Lavender & Orange
by CRed1988
Summary: A/U: Victory came at a price. Aizen's defeat left the Soul Society in shambles, and the balance of souls collapsed. So, Ichigo Kurosaki was sent back in time to stop it from ever happening and arrived that same faithful night that Hisana made the biggest mistake of her life. From there things began anew...
1. Chapter 1

A few days—that was how long Hisana had been in the Soul Society, and already she was faced with more of a burden than she could bear.

Her feet ached, the bare flesh having been scrapped against broken flagstone. Though she had been cautious in watching her footing past the fifty-fourth district, there had been no way to avoid them all. At this point, she would give almost anything for a pair of sandals.

Her arms were numb too, strained from holding the bundle in her arms that slowly rose and fell in silence. But the worst pain was in her stomach. She hungered, the lining turning inwards and consuming itself at this point.

Weary legs gave out after only a few more minutes of walking—pain, exhaustion, and hunger taking their toll. The only saving grace was that she managed to sit on her own accord, rather than collapsing where she stood. Leaning against the side of a building that served as part of a small alley, she exhaled and brushed aside the bundle of worn cloth that had been taken from a corpse and swaddled around her little sister as a blanket.

Rukia slept now, having cried along the long journey she undertook to reach this point. Hisana was grateful for that, since it wouldn't do for her to wake someone now that night had fallen. But the silence itself allowed for horrid thoughts she had pushed to the back of her mind to surface—doubts and fears that came about upon finding themselves in the afterlife.

It had been her fault. Their parents had left on business and trusted her to watch over her little sister. But she had been so tired that she fell asleep while lulling Rukia to do the same, and that moment of rest allowed the unattended cooking fire to run rampant.

The next thing she knew they both were inside of a charred and collapsed room, with a figure in black kimono standing over them. She asked what had happened. The figure told them they suffocated from the smoke before sending them on their way, where she had been told they were assigned to a district and had no choice but to walk there.

The rules of this world were different from what she knew in a lot of ways, especially when it came to needing food. While Rukia seemed to not suffer from hunger, Hisana did. It stabbed at her stomach over and over, gnawing at her to the point that she was feared she was going to die again.

And that terrified her more than anything else. If she couldn't survive by herself, what chance did she have with an infant to take care of? That thought haunted her, dying for a second time without experiencing the happiness that she once sought in life.

If there was just someone who would take them in then she would be at peace. But everyone in the district had their own problems and couldn't be burdened with doing so. There was nothing to be gained for taking in an unskilled woman and a child, not when they weren't able to contribute anything towards surviving. It didn't help that food was scarce for those who needed it either.

Hisana's lithe fingers gently brushed the almost-gossamer strands of dark hair on her sister's head. At the same time, her sad smile was joined by tear trails on either side. She knew what she had to do if she was going to survive.

Rising to her feet, she left the alley behind to return to where she had last received a bit of rice. The old pottery-maker seemed to look upon Rukia fondly. She would most likely be willing to take in a child that didn't need food. It would be better that way.

"I'm sorry, Rukia," Hisana said softly, kneeling down in front of the old pottery-maker's door. With a delicate grace, despite her trembling hands, she laid her sister down as gently as possible on the doorstep and stroked her hair a final time. "I'm so sorry."

Then, she rose to her feet, knocked violently against the door to wake the old woman, and ran without looking back.

Her legs carried her surprisingly far, allowing her to run away from her shame at leaving her sister behind and burdening someone else with her responsibility. However, the pain of doing so stabbed into her chest like a blade with every step she took, leaving hot and stinging tears to run from her eyes. No matter how many times she tried brushing them away, they would return to obscure her vision.

Only once she was outside the buildings that made up the district, and into the wilds that bordered it, did her legs fail her. She collapsed into the grass at the base of a tree, her forearms bracing against the ground as her hair covered her face from view. Unable to move, Hisana let the tears fall unbidden now.

"Hey—" She turned at the abrupt voice to see an orange-haired young man there, dressed in a cloak that barely obscured a tattered and battle-worn black kimono. His lips were set in a scowl, bandages clinging to his cheeks, and he glared at her in a manner that left ice crawling along her body. "—you weren't really going to just abandon her like that, were you?"

The words didn't register until she heard the soft, unmistakable cries filling the air between them. Her eyes drifted down to his torso where they came from. In his arms was the little sister she had said goodbye to forever, glistening violet-eyes fixed on hers as they wept.

 **[-oOo-]**

Space unfolded, filling the empty room with a flare of azure light. A pulsating sphere expanded from nothing, kicking up a gust as it swelled. The wind displaced everything within range as a silhouette appeared in the core of the sphere, reaching out from within.

The tips of calloused fingers touched the boundary of the sphere, delicately like glasswork. The touch may as well have been a sledgehammer. It brought the sphere cascading down until it vanished at the soles of his sandals.

He took in his surroundings. The aged and ratty building he found himself in was whole, rather than a smoldering pile of ash and splinters. From the crevices in the ceiling moonlight spilled down, shining down upon the worn and dusty floor. The splintered frames of what had been a window allowed him to peek outside to see the wild, uncut grass.

It was… _peaceful_. There were still innocent souls abound, and it was devoid of the Hollows that feasted on them to try to fill the void within themselves. That was a far-cry from the state the Soul Society had been in before he had left it. Now, he had _time_ to make sure it stated this way.

However, he needed to make sure he wasn't detected on entry. Despite donning a cloak that hid his spiritual energy, he imagined such a feat of forbidden Kido couldn't have gone completely unnoticed. Having to explain himself without proof, or even with it given what little he knew about the court system, would only make things more complicated than they needed to be and force an encounter with Aizen before he was ready.

In his current condition he doubted he would be able to get past the gates of the Seireitei. Let alone reach the traitorous Captain. He was recovering what was lost after the Final Getsuga, adjusting to the new foundation of power that replaced it. And then there was the matter of what had been revealed of his Mother….

Ichigo Kurosaki brushed the stray thoughts aside and stood there in utter silence, eyes closed as he expanded his senses. The absence of the guttural prowling of Hollows and cries souls begging for help were an almost foreign experience at that point, but soothing to his ears. It made it easier for him to sense that which surrounded him….

It was a forest of white, closing in from all angles as spiritual energy became tangible ribbons. All of them lacked the colors of Soul Reapers and Hollows alike, not one to be found within the range he could sense. There were only innocent souls that lacked any noticeable spiritual energy or pressure….

His chest tightened as recognized one of them. He reached out gingerly, grabbing the ribbon that was as white as the others. It wasn't red like he would have expected, but the signature of it was unmistakable. It manifested as a cool and comforting texture that had once acted as the catalyst to his becoming a Soul Reaper.

 _"Rukia…."_ A pain nagged at Ichigo's chest when he recalled her death, like so many others. She had died in the aftermath of the war itself, fallen to a horde of Hollows as they crossed into the Soul Society unhindered. They won the battle against Aizen, but not without costs.

The Vizards, who had welcomed him into their ranks at one point, were slaughtered before he could come to their aid. Joining them were the Captains and Vice-Captains of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. After them were the friends he left to their ordinary lives, ripped apart by the overwhelming spiritual pressure of the Hougyoku-empowered madman in a successful attempt to anger him.

Aizen's death had spelled the beginning of the end for the Soul Society, Hollows entering en masse, guided by their hunger and the lack of deterrent. No matter how many Soul Reapers there were, Hollows outnumbered them by a vast number. And, with the strongest of the Soul Reapers dead, the Vasto Lorde and Arrancars proved to be too much.

The souls that were purified went to the Soul Society, no matter where they were slain. But, when the Hollows claimed the Soul Society for their own with superior numbers, there was no safe place for them to go. They were devoured and became more of their kind, doing the same and perpetuating the cycle.

By the time Ichigo was in a position to do anything it was too late. So, through the machinations of the Royal Guard, he had been sent back to the past. Not because of strength, but because only an existence that wasn't in the past could traverse it without committing a paradox.

Ichigo was moving before he realized it, traversing the distance between the ribbon's source and himself in as few steps as possible. He could do that at least. If there was one thing that hadn't left him, despite his lack of power, it was his expertise in the use of Flash Step.

In a few steps, he found a baby resting at the foot of a door. He was confused for a moment. Then, he recalled the fact that he was in the past, looking at Rukia who had only arrived in the Soul Society.

It seemed so unreal. He crouched down and picked her up carefully, fearing her to be fragile. The warmth from her body bled past the makeshift bundle and into his arms.

The old wooden door opened at that moment, revealing an elderly woman. Her forehead creased with wrinkles, leaving her eyes squinted. She was obviously less than thrilled at being awoken at the current hour. "What do you want, knocking on my door at this hour?"

"…Have you seen this child's caretaker?" Ichigo asked, after a pause. From what he remembered from the tale of her past, Rukia had been abandoned by her sister, Hisana. She grew up in Inuzuri, with Renji, until she was taken into Byakuya's family. He assumed that was where and when he had landed in the past.

The old woman reached up to the makeshift blanket and touched the child's head, stirring her awake. When she saw the violet eyes she recognized them. "I remember a young woman with similar eyes, new to the Soul Society. An older sister, I believe. I have to assume she left the child here for me to deal with."

Ichigo frowned. "She abandoned her?"

"It wouldn't be the first time someone has done so, though that was twenty or so years ago." The wrinkles on her cheeks rearranged themselves as she swallowed. "Regardless, I only gave the girl a bit of the rice that I had. There's no crime in that, no matter what trouble the girl has gotten herself into."

Rukia started squirming in his grasp, trying to get free of the strange pair of arms that held her. Unlike her sister, his arms were far firmer and he smelled different. Discontent squeals began to bubble in her throat.

Ichigo rearranged his grip to try and put her at ease. "Why do you think she's in trouble?"

Frail fingers reached up and pulled aside the edge of the cloak, catching a glimpse of the dark colors beneath it. "Because your kind is never around this far out unless there's been trouble within the Seireitei or the monsters have come around. Since I don't hear screams, I can only assume it's the former. So, what was it? Did she offend a noble? Pick their pocket? Turn down their advances?"

"I don't…" Ichigo let a tired breath slip through his lips, trailing off in light of the shriek Rukia let out. He gently rocked her, trying to quell the crying before it began in earnest. "You said someone knocked on your door, waking you up. How long ago?"

"A minute or two at best," she said.

 _Not far then_ , he guessed. "I see. Thank you."

Giving the old woman a bow of his head, he secured Rukia in his arms and then vanished from her sight with a Flash Step. If Rukia's sister was still there, he needed to find her. Ascending in the air, hardening the spirit particles beneath his feet, Ichigo loitered above and cast his gaze over the dark maze of buildings and alleys that made up the district.

Rukia stopped squealing at that moment. Instead, she looked out at the landscape below with curiosity. She grunted at the sight, her hands and feet shifting beneath the cloth covering her.

After a minute of searching he caught the sight of movement. It was a woman, running away clumsily. The hair was undeniably similar to that of his timeline's Rukia. It was her.

He took the time to memorize her spiritual energy, manifesting it as a translucent ribbon that slowly solidified. The texture was gentle, but not frail. He would never forget it, meaning she could never get away.

Ichigo held Rukia tighter, just to make sure she didn't slip, continuing to rock her as he pursued the fleeing young woman. An older sibling's duty was to protect their younger sibling. That was something he firmly believed in to the depths of his soul, which only made the guilt he felt after failing to save his own even more agonizing.

No matter what he did here, in the past, the pain of losing them and the others would never go away. He would be damned before let someone else run from their responsibility.

She wore herself out, collapsing outside the district. Ignorant of his presence, she wailed into the grass. It was disconcerting on some level for him, seeing someone with a face like Rukia being so weak and frail.

Rukia had been compassionate enough to surrender her power, so that he could save his family. She even walked off towards death to save him. At the same time, she was brave enough to face any threat that could do her harm.

The woman before him was crying about what she had done, rather than trying to make up for it. It was a contrast to the warrior he had known. Even though he knew that she wasn't the Rukia he knew, he couldn't help but scowl as he called out to her. "Hey."

Her head snapped around, revealing reddening eyes that were glistening with tears.

"You weren't really going to just abandon her like that, were you?" he asked, but the tone could have been taken for demanding. Some of the displeasure he felt had crept into his voice.

It frightened Rukia. She began squealing again. The cries were softer than before, but they were growing louder.

Hisana forced herself up and reached out for her sister on reflex, only to recoil once she realized what she was doing. The guilt she felt at what she had done became a wall between them, keeping her away. What right did she have to embrace Rukia after abandoning her? She backpedaled, coming to a stop when she hit the tree.

His eyes narrowed further. "Answer me. Were you really going to abandon her to the old woman?"

"I… I had no choice," she said, her body trembling. "It was better that way."

"You don't believe that," Ichigo said as Rukia continued to cry. "If you did, you wouldn't be fighting against the desire to hold her right now."

She didn't say anything to try and refute his words. Instead, she turned her head towards the ground so she didn't have to look at either of them. But, as the cries of her sister grew louder, it became more difficult to stand it. She fell onto her knees and covered her ears, futile as it was.

Ichigo walked up to her and dropped into a cross-legged position. The infant stopped crying, her violet eyes glossy as they stared at her older sister. His voice came out clear as day. "How long are you going to ignore the truth?"

Hisana glacially forced her head up, looking at Rukia with watering eyes. Tears began to trickle down her face. "I'm scared. We died so... suddenly, only to end up in this strange place. Everyone we knew and loved are gone, a world away. We have no one or nothing!"

"All the more reason you shouldn't have tried to abandon her." He held Rukia between them. "You have each other, and she needs you as much as you need her. If you had gotten away, I guarantee you would have regretted it for the rest of your life."

The words rang true. Her hands trembled as they reached out for the small bundle. The crying stopped as soon as they wrapped around her tiny body and pulled her in.

Holding her little sister to her chest beneath the tree, stinging tears left her eyes freely once more, even as she kept her voice low to avoid stirring Rukia up again. _"I'm so sorry, Rukia! Forgive me!"_

Ichigo just watched in silence as she wept, thinking back to how he lost everyone himself. There was very little chance he'd see any of them again this far back. But, this was something he could do. He could give Rukia a life with her sister, helping her grow up to be happy.

And, once that was done, he could set out to kill Aizen.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/U: Thank you for the interest of the story. An interest twist of Ichigo going back in time to meet Hisana and Rukia.**

 **Guest: Wait and see.**

 **Fifth Horseman: Interested indeed.**

 **Gianella: Interesting is the right word.**

 **Lightningblade49: Yes it is.**

 **Epyon111: Thank you for liking it so far.**

 **Jake Wolf: I will continue this as well.**

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

"Steady your hands, girl," the old potter said, her voice stern. Her expression was a contrast, a small smile on her face as she held little Rukia on her lap. The infant herself merely watched her sister work, mesmerized by the sheen of wet clay rotating on a potter wheel.

"Yes ma'am," Hisana said, wiping sweat from her brow with her forearm. When the wheel began to slow, she pushed the side of the wheel to make it spin faster. Then she dipped her hands into a bowl of water and then brought them to the clay, in order to keep it wet.

Hisana and Rukia now lived inside of the potter's home, a small hut that was in the Inuzuri district they had been assigned to live in. While there was no way for the law—that's to say, Soul Reapers—to enforce them living there, there was nowhere else for Hisana and Rukia to go.

Hisana suspected that she was being particularly hard on her because she had tried to abandon Rukia on her doorstep. Whether it was because she had left the responsibility to the older woman, or because she'd abandoned her sister in general, didn't really matter. Hisana couldn't help but believe that she honestly deserved to be punished for the attempt. If that orange-haired fellow hadn't intervened, she would have made a great mistake.

"Focus, girl!" the old potter said. "You're letting it collapse in the center."

"Ah! Sorry!" She tried to save it, but she ended up making to worse in the end. That was disappointing.

"We're wasting clay if you can't learn to stay focused," the old woman lectured. "This is an art, and while substandard is the norm this far out, I will not have anything less than superb."

"I'm sorry," Hisana said again. "I'll do better, I promise."

The old potter brushed her off with a wave of her hands. "Just clean up for the evening."

She nodded, and then cringed at the scent lingering on her hands as she brought them towards her face. The water had been recycled for her practice, so it had a bit of a repugnant odor to it. She feared it would soak into her skin permanently, but it couldn't be helped since water was scarce out here.

There were only a few out of the hundreds of thousands in the district that needed to eat or drink for survival, although recreational sake was relished by anyone who could get their hands on it. Clean water had to be bought, and kept squirreled away to prevent it getting stolen. The only reason they managed to get enough for her practice, along with the extra clay and paint, was because of the young man who had stopped her that night.

"Come back here you little brat!" someone yelled, beyond the thin walls. "I'll only cut off one of your hands if you stand there and take it!"

"I need this!" another voice said. It was a young one, probably a child. "You're just going to waste it on getting drunk!"

"Ignore it," the old woman said, this time with her voice laced with bitter resignation. "That's how it goes out here. The adults are thieves, drunkards, or killers, and the kids that survive are left to their own devices and end up growing up to be the same. It's a consequence of living away from those that could enforce the law."

Hisana frowned at that. A few times in the last month they had been staying with her, they'd heard similar noises. People being beaten in the streets, mugged, threatened, and other things—and everyone else seemed to take it as the norm. It wasn't by any means an ideal place to raise Rukia, but it was all they had.

"GERK!" she heard the man's voice let out, almost raggedly.

Right afterwards she heard, "Quit chasing around some kid."

The voice was familiar, strong and sturdy. How could she forget it when she was on the receiving end that night a month ago? She found herself on her feet, leaning out to look past the wooden bars of the window.

An older, scrawny man was sprawled out on the ground face-first, with the orange-haired young man glaring down at him. His hand was outstretched in a chopping position, showing he had knocked him out from a blow to the back of the neck. He then hoisted the fallen man over his shoulder with great ease, most likely planning on ditching him in a side alley afterwards.

"Straighten up, brat," he told the kid as he walked away. "There's no guarantee you'll get away next time."

The kid with green hair nodded, and then he ran without looking back. He disappeared around a corner, outside of her view.

"Pointless," the old woman muttered, rising onto her feet with Rukia nestled in her arms. "Things will go right back to the way they were once he's out of sight and out of mind…."

"At least he's doing something," Hisana pointed out, looking at the others who had been watching the altercation and chase prior. None of them had lifted a hand to do anything. "If there were more people like him around, things could be better."

"Bah! Optimistic fools like that are the first to die out here," she said, before peering at Hisana's hands. "You're cleaning that window, by the way."

Hisana looked down to see that she had gripped the frame of the windows with her grey-colored fingers, the wet clay clinging to it. She groaned inwardly, knowing that was going to be a pain to clean. She set to work with a cloth, burdening the already sore muscles and joints in her fingers and wrists, until it was as clean as she could get it.

Her stomach, and the hunger nipping at it, made itself known by the time she was finished. The scent of the rice being cooked only served to make the growl audible, much to her shame. More so when there was a knock on the door, and the old potter told her to open it.

She did so, ending up face-to-face with the orange-haired fellow from before. He was dressed in the cloak that he had worn when they first met. With the hood thrown over his head, the shadows pooling beneath it obscured his face well.

"You're late," the old woman said.

"I intended to come earlier, but there was a thing outside and I wanted to wait until no one was watching to avoid drawing attention to you." He stepped inside and shutting the door behind him. "You're keeping my secrets, so being discreet was the least I could do."

By secrets, he meant the fact that he was one of those Soul Reapers. Like the one that sent them both to this world. Hisana hadn't seen any out here in the last month, and she didn't know why he wanted to keep it a secret, but they all agreed.

"It was still a nice thing to do," Hisana told him."If he'd gotten his hands on that boy…."

"Well, I've never been someone who could stand-by and just watch something like that happen," he said, taking a seat. He pulled out a pouch and handed the old potter it.

Kan was the currency they used in this world, coins of copper, silver, and gold. The pouch only had a few copper pieces, but it was enough for the time being. With it, she could afford training supplies and extra goods.

The old woman took it without a word and stood up, heading to her room. That left Hisana, the Soul Reaper, and Rukia alone with each other.

"Hello, Rukia," he said to her little sister. His eyes were gentle as he did so. "How are you today?"

Rukia responded with a coo, her little hands shifting beneath the sheets she was nestled within as though she was trying to reach out to him. Hisana found it cute, but also a little curious. It was strange how comfortable he seemed with her. Maybe a little too comfortable, given they only met that night a month ago.

She'd wanted to ask him more about why he helped her, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to risk it. He was basically paying their way, and she knew nothing about him. In fact, she didn't even know his name. It nagged at her on a few levels. Still, pushing the issue could cost them their current lifestyle—and as lackluster as it was, it was still better than a lot of others had.

He looked up from Rukia, his eyes focused on her now. "What is it?"

Hisana blinked. "Huh?"

"You were staring at me," he said, clarifying his previous statement. "If you have something you want to ask, then you can just ask me."

"…who are you?" she finally asked, her voice small after the pause. "Why are you doing all of this for us?"

"Is it really that important for you to know?" he asked. There was no bite to his words, but to her it felt like he was asking if it was really wrong to just trust in what he was doing. Was it wrong to believe he was simply being kind?

Hisana bit her lower lip and nodded, grabbing her little sister just as she managed to get a hand free of the cloth and tried to grab his fingers. Innocent eyes stared into hers for a moment in confusion, and then a smile quickly formed on Rukia's face as she giggled. It made Hisana smile back and hug her sister close to her chest.

"We… no, I owe you so much for everything you've done," she said. "But, I just can't figure out why you've gone out of your way to do so much for us when we've never met before. I don't even know your name after a month has passed, yet you seem so comfortable around us."

He sighed, scratching the back of his head in thought. Looking out the window, he spoke with a memory guiding his words. "Before I came to the Soul Society, I had sisters… two little sisters."

"Is that so?" Hisana's thoughts coalesced into a picture of the same young man before her, only with two little girls like Rukia. It would explain why he was so good with her. "You must have loved them dearly."

He nodded. "I wanted nothing more in the world than to protect them. I wanted to make up for letting our mother getting killed by a Hollow."

Seeing the confusion on her face, he explained. "It's a creature that feeds on the souls of the living and dead. Our family was born with strong spiritual powers, so it was inevitable that we would be targeted. I… would have failed again to protect them, if not for a Soul Reaper helping us. She sacrificed herself so that I could have the strength to protect them, and I took her place until she regained her strength."

He began to tremble, muscles tensing beneath his cloak. "She was strong, brave, and never ran from helping others when she could… and, in the end, she died doing that when I couldn't reach her.

She could hear the pain in his voice now, even with the shadow of the cowl obscuring his expression. It tugged at her heart.

"My sisters, my family, and my friends are all dead now." he said, his fingers curling into fists. "The people I wanted to protect the most in the world no longer exist, leaving me behind with nothing. For someone who has to protect others to not be able to do so, it's a different sort of Hell in itself. So when I saw you about to throw everything away…."

She finished where he trailed off. "You couldn't bear it after losing everything yourself."

"It might be self-serving of me, but I thought that if I could stop you from making a mistake, then it would be fine." He reached up and ran his fingers through his hair, throwing back the hood and letting her get a good view of him in the honey-colored light. His features were sharp, but obviously young. He couldn't have been older than her, but she'd heard that people here sometimes looked younger than they were. "If I looked out for you, then you'd be able to live without regrets until you got back on your feet. If you don't want me around after that, then—"

Hisana shook her head. "Whether or not it was self-serving, you stopped me from making the biggest mistake of my life. You're helping us at personal cost, and you haven't asked for anything in return. So, I—"

Her words were cut off as her stomach made itself known. It gurgled loud enough to fill the room, demanding food lest it repeated itself. Embarrassed, Hisana closed her mouth at the giggle of her sister and lowered her head to hide the blush on her face.

He laughed, his mood becoming lighter. For all the embarrassment, it alleviated the somber mood that her question had wrought. Standing up, he pulled the cowl back over his head and made for the door. "I've kept you away from your meal long enough. I'll be on my way."

Still too embarrassed to speak, she gave him a single nod.

"By the way," he said, standing at the opened door. "My name is Ichigo."

Then he was gone, the door closing behind him. Hisana sat there, slowly feeding herself while thinking over the conversation. She turned to Rukia, who yawned and would need to sleep soon.

"It's a nice name, isn't it?"

The baby cooed in response.

 **[-oOo-]**

Ichigo made his way back to the abandoned hut he claimed as his own in the dead of night, slipping into the door and settling down near the pit in the center. Scrap wood was set alight, crackling fire coming to life and driving off the chill of the night air. He stoked the flames in silence for a moment, staring at wavering orange glow as he readied himself.

It was through Rukia's sacrifice that he became a Soul Reaper. It was through his bonds with his friends that he became stronger. It was through the Vizard's guidance that he was able to tame his inner Hollow. And it was through his father's guidance that he gained the Final Getsuga.

Now, it was through his mother's legacy that he would do what needed to be done and prevent all those sacrifices and losses from being repeated. The time he had come from was forever changed, and he would never forget them, but he could only move forward now.

He reached and pulled up a board, grabbing his larger Zanpakuto. He had kept the smaller one on him, tucked safely behind his back in the event that it would be needed. In this area, having what looked to be a large knife was easier to explain away than a large sword. Crossing the two blades on top of his legs as he took up a lotus position, he cleared his mind in preparation to dive into his inner world.

Ganju, who it turns out he was related to through his father's lineage, had taught him how to dive into where his power dwelled the first time they raided the Seireitei. It was good advice, and remained useful to this day. He began with that step, falling into the yawning darkness that was devoid of light.

The vast abyss that was the depth of the soul, and the spiritual power that was born within it, was difficult to traverse. His father had taught him how to go deeper, to weather the depths of darkness until he reached the end of it. Sinking in the abyss like a weighted stone, he eventually reached a membrane and then broke through it.

Thunder rumbled, and lightning flashed behind the curtain of grey clouds that were heavy with the promise of rain. The inverted city that represented his inner world was now a land of eternal gloom, the losses suffered marring his soul to this level. Only the thought of a better tomorrow kept the downpour from flooding everything.

He landed on top of the highest building made available. That high up, the wind billowed and whipped around the tattered black coat of the only other figure to be found in the lonely world at present. "Has enough time passed, Old Man?"

"We've been here long enough to adapt." He turned around to face Ichigo, the tinted glasses obscuring his eyes. The normally closed black coat was now perpetually opened, revealing a plain white shirt and black pants. It was proof that he no longer hid the truth.

The old man no longer called himself Zangetsu, as that was a lie that had come to light. When Ichigo had been given an asauchi to forge his actual Zanpakuto, he admitted the truth. He was a mote, a fragment of his Quincy heritage through his mother.

Somehow, Ichigo felt Uryuu would be laughing with a bitter smile if he was still around when that revelation came to light. They were related. If things had been different, how would the first meeting between them had gone?

It turns out the old man had been hindering his true Soul Reaper powers, in an effort to protect him. Then he had begun to fade away, allowing the restrained and stunted powers to fully manifest at the cost of his existence. He believed that it was needed, in order to solidify the transplant of new powers after he lost them to defeat Aizen in their timeline.

Ichigo didn't allow it. He reached out and grabbed the old man before he could completely vanish, not willing to let go. He may not have been the true Zangetsu, but he protected Ichigo all the same. In essence, his presence of his mother's presence, continuing to protect him long after her death. He couldn't simply cast that away.

So he clung to as much of the old man's existence as he could. It was nearly impossible, like water slipping through his fingers. But Ichigo refused to give up, and this was the end result.

The spiritual weight that the old man had was reduced to near-nothing. He was but a fragment that still lingered within the heart of the smaller blade. But it allowed him to remain even now, and continue to guide Ichigo with his wisdom. That had to be enough.

The old man gathered spiritual power into his hands. It manifested into a solid form, wavering like flames that had been forced into the shape of a sword. "We can begin with the Quincy training whenever you wish, Ichigo."

Ichigo concentrated, manifesting the smaller of his two Zanpakuto inside the inner world. There was only one way for him to learn what he needed, and that was through combat. "Let's go then."

The old man charged.


	3. Chapter 3

**Let see how the training between Ichigo and the Old Man goes.**

 **TheforgottenProdigy: There will be more to come.**

 **Harbinger Of Kaos: Who knows.**

 **clw123cat: Correct, Ichigo knows about it.**

 **candybaron21: No, thank you for interested in this story**

 **Lightningblade49: Keep reading and see.**

 **Daedricdragon: I will continue.**

 **Jake Wolf: Thank you!**

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

The Old Man dashed like a devil's wind was at his back, his black coat billowing like a cape as he brought the blazing spirit-forged sword around. The light of the blade obscured his eyes beneath the shades he wore as the wavering, weapon clashed with steel in Ichigo's hands. It smashed into shorter blade with the same intensity of a heavy broadsword, carrying a weight that belied its form.

Ichigo knew what it meant to be superhumanly strong. The sensation of having spiritual power covering every muscle in his Soul Reaper form from within, swaddling him with its radiant glow, made him strong enough to cleave building with a swing. Yet, here and now, he felt the strain in his arms as he pushed back against the Old Man's weapon with the shorter of the two, one hand holding the hilt in a white-knuckle grip while the other braced the back of the blade.

"That blade is not meant for clashing," the Old Man said, backing off a step and then coming in again with a diagonal slash that would have opened him up from hip-to-shoulder.

Ichigo narrowly avoided it, only to be body-checked and sent skating back to the ledge of the roof. He righted himself, one foot forward and bent, with the blade held out in front of him in defense. Then he tried to gather his power and coalesce it into the _Getsuga Tensho…._

Only he found that the power wasn't there anymore. "What's going on?"

The Old Man planted his sword into the roof of the building, with the tip biting into it with deceptive ease. "This is your inner world Ichigo, but the rules here currently being set by me. You are here to train as a Quincy, mastering the legacy left behind by your mother as readily as that of your father. Thus I have stripped you of your powers as a Soul Reaper while we practice."

Those words carried weight. There was nothing inside of him as there had been while he was a Soul Reaper. There was no wellspring to draw from, no vast reservoir of spiritual power that he could call upon to stand against his enemy.

"Ichigo." The voice of the Old Man was low now, contemplative and deep as he spoke. "To realize your Quincy abilities, you must realize what a Quincy is."

The Old Man raised his left hand. In it was the Zanpakuto that had once been his form, shaped like a large knife. "A Quincy is different than a Soul Reaper. We do not possess the Soul Chain and Soul Sleep that generates the power that they wield. Nor do not possess Zanpakuto or the spirits that dwell within them. Even a novice Soul Reaper possesses more spiritual power than a Quincy, which manifests itself as Spiritual Pressure."

He raised his right hand. In it was the mask that represented his Hollow half. "A Quincy is different than a Hollow. We do not consume spiritual power for sustenance. Nor do we try to fill a void within ourselves, hoping to regain what was lost. We do not possess monstrous strength and stamina to chase down our prey and then cripple them for the kill. "

He brought the two together, crossing them in front of his face. "A Quincy is not a Vizard, nor an Arrancar, who mesh the attributes of the other two into a single being. Neither a blade, nor a mask, represents our identities. With those ruled out, I ask you: What is a Quincy?"

"…They're human," he said, after an audible pause.

The air stirred, thunder grumbling in the clouds above as the winds below whipped past the two. "That's correct. A Quincy is merely a human who was born with the curse of being able to see the world of the dead, and attract the horrors that lay within it. We possess a modicum of spiritual talent within, but that is a mere drop in the bucket compared to what you're used to."

The mask and Zanpakuto vanished. He rested both hands on what would be the pommel of his spirit-forged sword. "We are a people who possess the power of neither, but have suffered at the hands of both, preyed upon by Hollows and slaughtered by the Soul Reapers who did nothing to help. Hunted by invisible monsters, other humans feared what they could not understand and were unable to recognize our pain. Thus we stood alone…."

The somberness in his voice could be seen in his eyes now. "At risk of having our very souls obliterated by mere contact with a Hollow… unable to rely on those who called themselves Balancers in the past… and persecuted by those who could not see what we did… Can you feel it in your soul, just what that was like?"

His words were resonating with Ichigo to an extent, calling buried memories within his soul. The images weren't present, but the emotions were. The fear, the exhaustion, the misery, the hatred, and the loneliness—these feelings threatened to bury him under their weight.

Seeing this, the Old Man grabbed his blade's hilt and brandished it. "We were victims in every sense of the word, born into a life of suffering by the blood in our veins. There was no other choice but for us to stand on our own two feet, and fight back to survive, against everything."

Ichigo thought he'd been prepared for what came next. He expected the Old Man would rush him from the front and attack. But he was proven wrong when the fragment of his Quincy heritage vanished from view and reappeared behind him in a single fluid motion, and his blade came around in a beheading strike that Ichigo narrowly ducked under.

Before he could recover, Ichigo stabbed the shorter blade into his chest. The Old Man fractured like glass, his form losing color as it crumbled into spirit particles that scattered like dust in the wind. Confusion dawned on Ichigo's face, with white-hot pain following as the spirit-forged broadsword carved a bloody furrow vertically along his back. Blood slithered down the wound, cascading onto the rooftop as Ichigo turned to face him once more.

"A Quincy is deceptive, not brazen," the Old Man declared, commanding the spirit particles around him to take his shape, another duplicate. It brandished its blade and then lunged for Ichigo as he continued to speak. "Soul Reapers and Hollows have the power to simply charge in headfirst. However, for a Quincy that is only suicide and nothing more."

The duplicate's blade moved in sharp arcs meant to kill in a single strike, forcing Ichigo to dodge or parry. With his blade upraised, spiritual power ran through his arms and revealed the network of blood vessels acting as a conduit to do so. This time the duplicate spoke in place of the original. "However, there was a way for us to match them in strength if needed."

Instinct screamed at Ichigo to dodge, not block, and he moved with a side-step to escape the strike. He managed to clear the way before the single swing split the building they were on in half. Ichigo stared at the fissure now before them, acting as a dividing line.

"A technique using the blood in our arteries to grant us strength beyond human limits for a time," the doppelganger said as he lunged for Ichigo again. The sword had dissipated, leaving him bare-handed as he reached for Ichigo's neck. "It is known as Blut Arterie—"

Ichigo thrust the short blade into the doppelganger, expecting it to shatter like the last. The blade trembled in Ichigo's hands as it pierced the coat and shirt, stopping at the skin. Strong fingers wrapped around his throat and raised him upwards, dragging the blade to rip open the coat and shirt. It revealed a circuit-like pattern woven in a dark hue just beneath the surface of the skin, threading through the entire side of his chest.

"—and using Blut Vene, we turn our veins into near-impenetrable shields," the doppelganger finished as it held him there. "This is the method used to stop you from bleeding out during that time against Kenpachi Zaraki."

Losing air, and his view tunneling, Ichigo chambered his legs. He shot them out, kicking against the doppelganger's chest and slipping out of his grasp. Gasping in desperation, holding his throat and feeling the bruised and tender flesh there, he felt his head dizzying as it recovered.

"But even with these, our strength does not lay in matching strength for strength. After all, if even a sliver of a Hollow's essence contaminates us then our souls will be destroyed." The doppelganger extended both of his hands to his side, leaving himself wide open. "Think back, Ichigo: How did the only Quincy you knew about until now fight?"

Realization dawned as a spirit arrow bore through the doppelganger, shattering it to pieces, and then punched a fist-sized hole through Ichigo's abdomen. The strength left his body, leaving him wide-eyed at the sight of the real Old Man standing on a distant building. In his hands was a dissolving spirit-bow, crumbling like dust after having fired a single shot.

The Old Man disappeared and reappeared again on the ledge ahead of him. "We fight at range, so that our enemies may never touch us. That is the reason we possess mediums to craft bows, and the Hirenkyaku technique."

Ichigo tried to rise, but there was nothing left in him to do so. He couldn't even raise his head. All he could do was listen as the Old Man continued.

"We do not generate an abundance of spiritual power, nor do we consume spiritual power either. Instead we manipulate and take dominance over spirit particles that make up the afterlife, commanding our own fate. With technique and control, we turned the hunters into the hunted, and refused to bend knee to those who led us to our darkest hours."

He came to a stop in front of Ichigo, hand extended. The spirit-forged blade formed from tearing the world around him apart. The remade sword was then held above his head to execute him. "That is the Pride of a Quincy—how mere humans managed to take on those superior to us and give them pause. The moment you chose to preserve me rather than let me fade away, that was the path you had decided to walk. This path will be harder than anything you've experienced, and it will be different than anything you've experienced."

He let the blade fall, cutting the world apart in a single swing. As everything faded to black, Ichigo heard the Old Man's final words. "But, if you wish for the power to protect everyone, it is the only one you can take."

 **[-oOo-]**

Ichigo snapped back to the waking world when dawn had roughly broken, a little tired in mind if not in body. He stood up and stretched, working out the tension that encompassed his muscles after holding the position all night. Then he looked out the window of see the radiant light of the sun spilling over the landscape, broken by the foliage above.

He frowned in thought. While it was true that he had gone into his inner world excepting to fight as a means to become stronger, as they had always done, it had never been like that. He'd known that the Old Man was strong, but… in this case it was less strength and more ruthlessness and cunning.

And then there were the memories that had come to the surface. They were fleeting things, memories of emotions rather than images. He'd never known the Quincy to have suffered as much as they had, though it did explain how hostile Uryuu had been prior. The death of his grandfather was one more mark in their somber tale. Stamping down on those feelings for now, Ichigo put away the longer sword and stuffed the shorter blade within his clothing.

He left out of the ramshackle hut, heading back into the district. When he arrived, there was a cart with a number of other men present. Some of them looked to be coming off a hangover, sake clinging to them from the lack of a bath. Others were dispassionate, a scowl or perpetual frown fix on their face.

The thought of them being his co-workers made Ichigo want to sigh, but he'd gotten that out of his system. The higher the district, the tougher the living and the more they resorted to whatever means of escape to get away from it they could. There was no law enforcing where they lived, since the Soul Reaper's who were supposed to were never present, but without enough kan they'd never be able to move on to someplace better.

There was one exception to that group, however. "Orange, you're almost late!"

Ichigo looked behind him to see a young man appearing as though he had just woken himself, brown eyes and dark stubble on his chin. He actually looked motivated. "Are your really one to talk, Tetsu?"

Tetsu had the decency to look sheepish. "Well, you can't blame a guy…."

"Hurry up!" called the guy at the head of the cart. The two hopped on and the cart moved towards the forty-first district. Everyone onboard was fit enough to work as cheap labor, paid for physical work in what had to be a miniscule amount of kan.

It took a two or so hours to get to the district. The change in scenery was staggering, and the fact that they had footwear and the roads were paved, even if cracked, alone showed the difference in lifestyle. While the district wasn't as glamorous as the outskirts of the Seireitei, it at least had some semblance of peace and the clothing was less tattered.

They set to work, constructing a new building while being barked at by the head carpenter, who made no effort to hide his disdain for having to have them do this. None of them were trained in this line of work, which took an apprenticeship and years of practice. Their presence meant that other carpenters were out of work and the construction was subpar at best.

"He's really making a fuss today, isn't he?" Tetsu said, hoisting a beam on his shoulder alongside Ichigo. He was surprisingly fit for his age, or what Ichigo presumed was his age. Most of the people who lived in the district didn't bother with staying in shape, partly due to the fact that only a few of them actually needed to eat and would just as likely get mugged over food.

Tetsu, on the other hand, had a mother to support. Not his birth mother, but someone who had taken him in when he had just arrived a few years ago. The both of them had spiritual power, but not enough to remotely qualify for being a Soul Reaper. All it did was make them hungry, and only he was capable of working for the moment.

"To be fair, I don't think that we've seen him when he hasn't been making a fuss," Ichigo said, setting the beam down and getting to work by hammering the wood in place with nails. "Besides, he does have a point about how they keep on being careless. When I was helping out at my father's clinic I'd seen more than a few injures from part-timers doing construction work."

Tetsu took the new information to heart. "Huh, so you used to do medical work?"

He shrugged. "Not me personally, but we didn't have any employees. My family helped my father. We did what we had to."

"I understand the feel—"

"Look out!" the head carpenter shouted. "Move you idiots!"

Ichigo's head snapped up above to see that one of the beams was about to fall down on top of them, haphazardly dropped by one of the hungover laborers. His reflexes kicked in, and his hands snapped up to catch it before it could land on them. He didn't even buckle under the weight of it, his strength easily enough to handle it without any visible signs of strain.

He set it down next to them and noticed Tetsu staring at him, a finger pointing back and forth between the beam and Ichigo. "You're not hurt, are you?"

Tetsu shook his head, words lost on him for the moment. If that had hit him he wouldn't have been able to work, if he lived. Then he wouldn't be able to support his mother. Once that train of thought came up, he managed to say, "I owe you a drink."

"I'm good," Ichigo said, turning his head to see the head carpenter rushing over to assess the damage.

When he was satisfied there were no potential setbacks, he turned his attention to the man who dropped the beam a floor up. "You get out of here! I don't want to see you again, you hear me!"

The irresponsible man staggered, his face scrunched up in an angry scowl. "What'd I do?"

"You almost killed someone who was actually working!" the carpenter said. "And if the construction materials had been damaged we would have been set back! I don't need trash like you around here!"

"Oh yeah?" He grabbed a hammer and flung it towards the head carpenter. Ichigo's outstretched hand caught it before it could hit the man, and the rest of the laborers on the floor swiftly restrained the assailant before he could make any more trouble and get them all fired.

The head carpenter spat on the side of the road, glaring as the man was dragged offsite screaming threats. Then he turned back to Ichigo and Tetsu. "Get back to work. If you pick up the slack you'll get his cut of the kan."

"Yes sir," Tetsu said, taking the promise of more money in good tidings. Every little bit helped. "We'll have it done and without cutting any corners."

The head carpenter grumbled about there being some actually useful guys in the bunch as he got back to overseeing the entire building construction.

Ichigo got back to hammering, passing the day away as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Once the day was over and he got paid, he'd go give Hisana and Rukia what he didn't need for food and then dive back into his inner world to continue his Quincy training. He had to prepare for his next encounter with Aizen….

 **P.S. If anyone is a fan of FFVII aka Final Fantasy VII, read it from my story.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Another chapter have arrived. Let see what happened.**

 **Thorndsword: You will see more action soon**

 **Helel son of the Morning: Yes**

 **clw123cat: Thank you**

 **Akutsu Junya: Thanks**

 **Jake Wolf: Well, read and see.**

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

"Here you go," Hisana said as she lightly tossed a small ball into the air. "Catch it!"

It rose into the azure sky above it, almost as if it was trying to touch one of the patches of grey clouds drifting further out at a leisurely pace. Then it fell back down, bouncing off the viridian grass of the woodlands and rolling forward. A pair of small hands grabbed it.

"Good job, Rukia!" Hisana clapped her hands, smiling as she did so. No one would deny that Rukia was almost a mirror image of her older sister when she was that age. Standing a little over three feet tall, while dressed in a lavender kosode similar to the one that Hisana had on, even the smile that bubbled up with her childish glee matched Hisana's at the very core. "Now toss it back."

Her tiny arms tried to fling it back from over her head, only to let the ball slip from her grasp and tumble free. Rukia stepped forward and kicked it by accident instead, sending it further than before by a bit. She pouted and bent down, this time tossing it as hard as she could manage. The effort made her slip and she landed with a thump on her rear.

It still came up short, but not so much that Hisana couldn't reach it by crouching down. Plucking it from the grass, she gave it another light toss for her sister to catch. It accidentally sailed over her head, leaving her to chase it undeterred by the previous failure. Such was youth.

Hisana sighed at the sight, but she felt at peace. The Old Potter had died a year ago, roughly just after a year of living together with them, leaving her place and her work for the two to survive with. It kept food on the table, and they could afford clothes, but she was so busy now that she rarely could give Rukia the attention she needed or let her have fun like this.

Little Rukia ran up to Hisana with the ball, holding it up for her to throw again. "Again!"

"Okay, one more time, and then Lunch." She waited for Rukia to run back into position to catch the ball. She threw it up again, watching as her little sister moved in circles to try and get under it.

The ball landed on her head this time, bouncing off and costing Rukia her balance. She stumbled back and blinked to clear the spots out of her eyes. Once she spotted the ball still rolling away, she went after it and only stopped when the ball rolled into another set of waiting hands. She recognized their owner and smiled. "Ichi!"

Hisana heard her voice while sitting on the grass and unfurling a cloth with onigiris for them. She looked up to see her sister giggling, having forgotten about the ball entirely to run up to the orange-haired young man and grab his cheeks.

"Nice to see you too." Ichigo patted her head, running his hand along the top bed of soft hair gently. He then turned to face Hisana, giving her a polite nod of his head. "You as well."

"Up! Up!" Rukia begged, waving her arms at him. "Up!"

"Okay, okay." Ichigo lifted her up as she wanted. He may as well have been a giant compared to her, because she found herself several feet off the ground and couldn't be more excited, unless he took her higher into the air so she could look down at the Soul Society. He would have done so, but the one time he did in view of Hisana she had choice words for him about doing it again.

"I didn't expect you until later this evening," Hisana said, curling her legs under her as she sat beneath the tree.

"We were let go early," he said, walking towards her. Rukia had somehow managed to crawl down the length of his arm and ended up behind his head, leading to her riding on his shoulders and clutching his hair. He didn't seem to mind."When I went to drop-off the Kan for today you weren't in at your place, so I figured I'd go looking for the both of you. This is a bit further than I expected though."

"There aren't a lot of safe places for her to play near Inuzuri, and trying to toss a ball around in a small building filled with pottery isn't a mistake you make more than once." Hisana wanted to keep Rukia safe as they played and, considering how things had been growing worse in the eightieth district, safety was a steadily growing luxury. They were closer to the sixty-first district, just off the dirt path that went between the separate districts but close enough to enter one if something happened. "I'm surprised you managed to find us."

"It's a Soul Reaper thing," he said, leaving it at that. Even though she knew he was a Soul Reaper, saying that he tracked her from the feel of her Spirit Ribbon would probably border stalking territory. He set Rukia down in front of Hisana and then looked to the clouds. "Judging by how fast those clouds are moving, I think it'll rain soon."

Purple eyes looked up as well and noticed the dark hue of the clouds getting darker, foretelling rain as he said. They'd probably need to head back right after this. Hisana handed Rukia an onigiri and then gestured for him to sit next to her. "I have one spare onigiri if you want it?"

"Sure." He sat with his legs in a lotus position and graciously accepted her offering. To Hisana's surprise he was quite ravenous as he ate, little better than Rukia next to him. In fact, she was almost sure Rukia was imitating him by the time he had finished. "Thank you. I hadn't eaten for a bit, and it was quite good."

"You can keep some of the Kan you give us if it's inconvenient." She pulled a handkerchief out and started cleaning Rukia's face of the stray grains of rice. "You shouldn't go hungry just trying to help us."

"It's less of me not having the Kan, but more that I'm too busy with training…." He trailed off as a drop of water hit his cheek from above. Ichigo leaned his head back to see that the dark clouds now crowded over them, ready to downpour.

"It looks like we'll need to hurry back before we get completely wet." Hisana grabbed Rukia and her toy, readying to leave, when Ichigo lifted her up in his arms bridal-style. She was reasonably shocked. "What are you doing?"

"It's faster if I do this," he said. "Hold onto Rukia."

She tightened her grip on her sister, but before she could ask what he was doing Hisana felt herself jaunting from place-to-place faster than her eyes could track. The world around her vanished, trees giving way to roads that became the sky and then buildings. When everything became solid and stable once more, they were standing in the alley outside their home.

She blinked in confusion, the water battering against her head as her heart settled down. "How did we get—"

Rukia cut her off, giggling in Hisana's arms. "Again!"

Her words snapped Hisana out of the daze she was in, and she realized she needed to get inside quickly. She ran around to the front and opened the door, jumping inside and then ushering Ichigo inside. "You're getting wet. Get inside."

He shook his head. "I don't want to impose, and I can make it home, so—"

"You'll only get wetter," she said, insistence in her voice this time. "The rain is getting heavier too. You can stay inside until the rain stops. Now, come in."

"Okay, okay…." Unable to refute her words, he stepped inside the building they had called home for the last two years. It wasn't much, but it gave them a home when otherwise they would have had none.

The place still looked the same, even after the Old Potter's death. Her funeral was a somber one, with only a few people attending it as her body was burned. Ichigo silently mused that perhaps that was why Hisana kept it the way it was.

Hisana kneeled over the fire pit and lit it with a match. The fire crackled to life, eating at the kindling and pushing the shadows to the corners of the room. Warmth slowly spread out, driving away the rain chill in the process.

Looking at herself and her little sister, she figured they could use a change of clothes in the backroom before they became sick. She turned to Ichigo and pointed to the flames. "I don't think I have anything that will fit you, but you can dry in front of the fire."

"Right," he said, taking a seat in front of the dancing tongues of flames that seemed to be trying to lap at him. Slipping his arms out of their sleeves, he let the top simply fall down around his waist where the belt was and revealed his toned physique that glistened with moisture in the light of the fire.

Hisana found her eyes drawn to how defined his muscles were, unable to look away until he glanced up to her. Crimson lit up her cheeks and she grabbed Rukia, turning her back to him as they left for the rear room so that he didn't see the hue on her face. Within the dark room, she found herself wondering what just happened as she toweled off and then changed them both into dry clothes.

While she had known he was attractive to an extent, she never thought he was that muscular beneath the clothing that he wore. Then again, there were few in the district that had his body type. There wasn't much of a point in trying to keep up appearances around here and, with how difficult it was to survive while taking care of Rukia, she hadn't entertained the thought of entering a relationship.

Once they were changed, they entered the main room again and Rukia immediately ran off towards Ichigo to play. He indulged her from his seat in front of the fire, lifting her up and letting her get away with pulling on his hair and patting down his skin. It was a cute scene and, looking at the sight, she found herself wondering if it would really be so bad to fall in love with him.

He was good with Rukia. He was supporting them through the donations that he gave nearly every day. And he was attractive, if she had to admit. All of those qualities would make him an ideal lover, even though her experiences in that field were narrow….

But what if it jeopardized everything that was happening between them now? What if he didn't return the affection she showed him? What if she suddenly changed her mind one day? There were too many what-ifs for her to take that leap just yet, and the fear of that outcome kept her silent until night fell.

The rain hadn't settled by then, instead continuing its rhythmic beating against the walls and windows as a lullaby putting Rukia to sleep within Hisana's arms. The older sister tucked her gently into the folds of the futon that lay near the wall that they shared. She then felt the weight of eyes on her back and turned to see Ichigo staring at her with a gentle expression.

"What?" she asked. "Is something wrong?"

He shook his head. "I was just thinking that you're really good with her."

A bitter chuckle escaped her mouth at the praise. It was undeserved. "No, I'm not. I'm just making things up as I go, using bits and pieces of what I've picked up to make guesses. I want to be the sister she needs, so that she can grow up happy in this place, if necessary."

"You're underestimating yourself," Ichigo countered. "Looking at you with her reminds me of my mother, and how she would take care of me and then my sisters. That gentleness isn't something someone can hold onto easily in this world or any other, so believe me when I say you're doing everything right."

Hisana felt conflicted. On the one hand, being seen as motherly toward her sister was a compliment in its own right. Compared to how she had been before, willing to leave Rukia to fend for herself as an infant, it was a complete turnaround that she could be proud of. On the other hand, being compared to the mother of someone who you were thinking of as a potential lover was somewhat… disheartening.

"And," he added, "It's really attractive if I had to say so. Women who have that quality are the ones who you can trust the most to be strong when it counts. If you decide to get married, whatever man is lucky enough to have you will never regret it."

And just like that her previous state was reset, moving right back into flattered. Then a thought occurred when she tried to remember about her childhood, with her own mother and father. It was foggy. She could remember them when Rukia was born and how they'd trusted her to watch over the newborn, but not when she was a child during what had to have been less than twenty years ago.

Ichigo noticed how her face had scrunched up in thought. "What's wrong?"

"I'm having trouble remembering my childhood with my parents," she said, rubbing her temples. "It's not coming back to me."

"It's because you've died," he said. "Most souls don't remember their life before coming to the Soul Society, and those that do tend to forget the ones that don't have a major impact or were old to begin with."

"Then how do you recall your own with such ease?" she asked.

He opened his mouth, but no words followed. He didn't want to tell her about the time-travel, or because he hadn't been dead before he arrived. So, Ichigo went with a painful half-truth. "Like I said, you forget the ones that _don't_ have a major impact. Her death was my fault, so I remembered everything that it cost us."

"I'm sorry for bringing it up," she said, looking away from him in shame at drudging up the story he'd told her about the Hollow and his mother. Of course that would scar him enough that he'd remember it even after death. Looking above the gleam of the pottery in the light, she peered past the window to see that the storm still raged above and refused to abate.

The sound of the floorboards shifting under Ichigo's weight drew her eyes back towards him, right when he turned towards the door. "You're not planning on going out in this weather are you?" she asked, rising to her feet. "It's pouring down even harder than it did during the day."

"Yeah, well—" He abruptly yawned into his hand, blinking away tears at the corner of his eyes. "I need to get some sleep so I can leave out to work tomorrow. The head carpenter's been talking about taking a few of the guys and making them real carpenters, with an apprenticeship and everything. Tetsu thinks it's his ticket out of the district, and the extra Kan couldn't hurt."

"All the more reason to stay the night," she told him, her voice earnest. When his eyebrows arched upwards she clarified. "I couldn't ask you to brave this sort of weather after you've dried off. No matter how fast you are, it'll still drench you in the end and you'll have to try to sleep wet and cold. Chances are you'll get sick."

He scratched the back of his head in thought, looking around. There was enough room for him at a glance. "I guess I can sleep on the floor, next to the fire."

"Nonsense," she said, almost insulted that he would insinuate the thought she'd allow a guest to do something so uncomfortable. "You can use the futon."

Ichigo shifted his view towards where Rukia was sleeping and then back to her. There was a minor blush beneath his eyes as he directed them to the side. "Um… I don't' think that would be appropriate."

That was enough for her to catch the implication. Hisana stumbled over her words as visions danced in her head of them together in the futon, sharing their warmth as all three slept in peace. Shaking her head to clear it of the somewhat inappropriate thoughts of having him nestled behind her, within the quilts that padded it out, she amended her words. "I mean, we have another futon that can be used for you."

"Right, right…." His chuckle afterwards was forced in an attempt to cover up that the same vision that played in her head was in his. Her soft skin and gentle scent settling against him wouldn't be a bad way to spend a night, but he didn't feel he had the right to even think of that. "That… makes more sense, I suppose."

"Just give me a moment," she said, stepping back into the rear room. When she returned, she had the futon in her hand, folded over several times. "This is the one from when the old woman was still here with us. It's a bit worn, but it's still good and someone should use it since I won't until Rukia gets a bit older."

"I'll leave out first thing in the morning," he promised, grabbing the bedding from her arms. He set it down opposite the crackling fire, putting it between them. Getting beneath the blanket, he murmured, "Good night."

Hisana settled into the futon with her sister in it. Rukia, perhaps sensing the sudden warmth of her body, turned in her sleep and latched onto Hisana. She ran her fingers through her hair gingerly and laid her head down, watching as Ichigo fell asleep almost instantly.

 _He must've been really tired,_ she thought. _His sleeping face is attractive too, looking so relaxed and everything—why do I keep thinking about this?_

In the end, as Hisana drifted off to sleep herself, she wondered where having these thoughts would one day lead her to. Whether something came of it was good or bad, only time could tell. But for now, she would stay silent on the matter and simply dream of what could be…


	5. Chapter 5

**Another chapter is here.**

 **Lightningblade49: Cute family indeed.**

 **KonohasBlackReaper: Read on and see.**

 **Domagonic: True true.**

 **Struggle Is Real: Read this chapter and you will have the answer.**

 **owieeey: Thank you.**

 **Enjoy!**

The 33rd eastern district was lively that night. Paper lanterns dotted the air, strung from lines that dipped between poles. Stalls ran parallel to the stone walkways, numbering dozens of wooden stands manned by food vendors or hosting games to play for prizes. It was a local festival held a shrine, a _matsuri_ open to all who could make it.

Rukia was one of the many children there, stationed between her sister and Ichigo while dressed in a modest kimono Hisana had gotten her. Her eyes glimmered with joy as she took in the sight laid before her. She had never been to a festival before, so the delicious smells and wondrous sounds around her were completely new experiences.

"I want to go over there!" she said, pointing towards one of the game stalls. No longer able to contain herself, Rukia pulled at her sister's hand and tried against all odds to drag the adult woman easily thrice her height. "Let's go! Let's go!"

"Okay, okay, no need to rush," Hisana said, laughing softly. She let Rukia guide her where she wanted to go.

Ichigo found himself smiling as he watched them, froma few steps behind. He had the cloak to shield his spiritual power wrapped around his torso, worn beneath his kosode like an undershirt, allowing him to pass as an ordinary denizen of the Rukongai. There was likely to be more than a few Soul Reapers around, and it wouldn't do if one of them was sensitive enough to feel his latent spiritual powers.

Being here reminded him of a similar event back on Earth, when his father and mother brought his sisters to a festival while dressed up in colorful kimonos. Karin and Yuzu were around Rukia's age at about five years old. Both of them were just as excitable as Rukia was, leading their mother along just like Hisana, while Ichigo and his dad competed with each other in other games.

His smile turned bitter. The pleasant memories bled into painful ones. His mother died only a year later, and the others were gone now too. Ichigo was all alone, with no family left….

"Ichi-nii, you come too!" Rukia said, waving her short arms and small hands over her head. In front of her was a long, rectangular, wooden basin filled with water. It had a number of Yo-yo Tsuris floating on top, balloons filled with air and water that bounced around like a yo-yo.

Rukia tried to hook one with a paper fishing line, so she could claim it as a prize. But the line was fragile, and she lacked the delicacy needed to hook the elastic string tied between the balloons. The line snapped when she pulled, leaving her without a prize.

Rukia's cheeks swelled and she pouted petulantly. "No fair!"

"Let me give it a try, Rukia," Hisana said. What the five year old lacked in terms of dexterity needed to succeed at the game, her older sister had in abundance from her work. Hisana gingerly hooked the string between a pair of red balloons with blue flowers patterned on it and pulled it out in a single, fluid motion. "Here you go."

"Thank you, Onee-san!" Rukia cheered. She waved it around, watching as the balloons bounced against one another. "Look, Ichi-nii! Look!"  
"I'm looking," he said, his smile no longer bitter. The laughs the simple toy brought slowly soothed the pain in Ichigo's heart. It gave him the strength to bury the memories of the past for at least this night, for her sake. "Where do you want to go next?"

The festival continued for the three, each taking this moment of peace from their daily lives and struggles to simply enjoy their time together. They played games, earning small prizes and charms, and savored the sweets offered, like the dried persimmons. Things were going swimmingly well by the time they heard that the fireworks were about to begin.

"They're setting up the fireworks at the shrine," Hisana said, pointing further down the road. Most of the people attending the festival were climbing the short series of stone stairs, just past the Torii gate surrounded by trees. She crouched down to meet Rukia at eye-level and asked, "Do you want to go see them?"

Rukia nodded her head rapidly. "Uh-huh!"

"Okay then." Ichigo grabbed Rukia and settled her on his shoulders, taking Hisana's hand as well. Somehow, he failed to notice the faint blush on her cheeks as they walked hand-in-hand. Passing through the crowd, they climbed up the stone stairs and stood off to the side, near one of stone lanterns that blazed with fire.

Some kids, pre-teens really, were setting up the fireworks at the base of the shrine. Ichigo thought that two of them were vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite place them. It was possible he had seen them at a later date in the past, when they were older. His thoughts on the subject faded when he noticed Hisana reaching up and plucking her younger sister from his shoulders.

Hisana set Rukia down and pointed through a gap in the crowd towards a number of little girls, dressed in cute kimonos and kosodes, playing a game of otedama. The bean bags were juggled between the girls, all of them singing as they did so. "Go ask if you can play with them until the fireworks start."

Rukia shook her head, pointing to the other direction. On the opposite side, a number of younger boys played a game of kemari and tried to keep the ball in the air without the use of their hands or arms. She ran off to join them, leaving her sister to frown slightly.

"It'll be fine," Ichigo said. He couldn't help but chuckle under his breath when Rukia abruptly inserted herself into the game by bouncing the ball off her head. They welcomed her in easily enough, and she ran around trying to keep up with them.

Hisana sighed, placing her fingers on her forehead. "Sometimes she acts more like a boy than a girl… I can't help but worry she doesn't have enough feminine influences around her. Perhaps I should see if I can find a hobby that would help, like flower-arrangement?"

Ichigo scratched his head at the thought, recalling some of the women he'd known from both worlds in the past and comparing them to the Rukia of that timeline. She wasn't the most feminine person he knew, but she had moments of nurturing. He figured Hisana's problem with it probably stemmed from the point of time when she died, a time when it would be frowned upon.

 _I don't think there's anything I can say that would help her here,_ Ichigo thought to himself when he felt a tug on his sleeve. He looked to see that Hisana's fingers held the hem, while her eyes gazed into his. In the firelight of the lantern in the backdrop, the glow of her snow-white skin complemented her cherry blossom-printed kimono, enhancing her natural beauty.

"Thank you for bringing us here," Hisana said earnestly, tears of happiness in the corners of her eyes. They threatened to spoil her angelic face that was adorned by a grateful smile. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be able to do this for Rukia. I cannot thank you enough."

"It was nothing," Ichigo said sheepishly. He couldn't bring himself to continue looking at her teary eyes. He was never good with crying women. "You're the one who told me about it, and I want to make her childhood happy as much as you do."

One of the stall-owners was a client of the Old Potter in the past. He had commissioned her successor, Hisana, to make some small ceramic cups with an elegant glaze and design to be given out as prizes. Because of the distance between the districts, it would have been impossible for the girls to reach without Ichigo's Flash-Step ability.

Hisana knew that without him in their lives, things would have been much worse. While they could stand on their own two feet now, he was the foundation that they walked on. So she was, and always would be, eternally grateful. "Even so, you're the reason that she can enjoy being a child, and for that I… I…."

She struggled to bring herself to say the words. The fear of changing the status quo between them was still there, and it was part of the reason that her heartbeat drowned out the sound of other people nearby. "Ichigo, I lov—"

An explosion of green and red sparks buried the confession. Flashing brightly and abruptly, the force and volume caused her to leap into his arms in surprise. Her confused voice joined the cacophony of the crowd, and a moment later Rukia clung to them both while crying from the sudden scare.

There was one voice that roared over the crowd. "GANJU, YOU IDIOT!"

"It's not my fault!" the boy with a bandana on his head said. He pushed the black-haired boy next to him. "Kaien's the one who made it go off early!"

The accused boy rose onto his feet and pushed his assailant into the girl. "Kukaku's the one who put in too much explosive powder!"

"You dirty little liar!" She knocked the boy clinging to her to the ground and lunged for the black-haired one. The one on the ground grabbed her foot, making her trip up. She kicked him in the nose, leading to a small brawl between the three.

 _Now I recognize them,_ Ichigo thought as he comforted Rukia, watching the squabble. He knew both Kukaku and Ganju from his first trip into the Soul Society. Back then he didn't know they were related though.

"Break it up you three!" an older, louder voice barked.

Ichigo went still upon hearing it, his body locking up as though it was petrified. The Soul Society was a big place, and he was intent on avoiding Soul Reapers until he had killed Aizen, at the very least. And Ichigo had suspected that because Soul Reapers aged differently some of the ones he knew would still be around… but he didn't think he would run across his father.

Isshin Shiba stood there with a bottle gourd hanging over his shoulder, frowning at the three who now sat down and rubbed at their bruises. "You're bringing disgrace to the Shiba name acting like that!"

"You do it all the time," Ganju said, holding his nose to stop the bleeding. He was subsequently walloped on the head by the bottle gourd, and made to apologize on his hands and knees to the crowd with his brother and sister.

"Sorry about that folks," Isshin said, his eyes spanning the calmed crowd. For a moment, they locked with Ichigo's and the orange-haired young man flinched. But, unaware of the relationship they had in the previous timeline, he simply moved on. "We'll get started in a minute."

The pain returned, stabbing Ichigo like thorns with every beat of his heart. He wanted to speak to the man, to tell him that he was his son. But he couldn't do that, for both practical and personal reasons. Even if Isshin believed him, which wasn't likely, it would only bring him pain from knowing that he would lose his family and his life.

And, once Ichigo killed Aizen, the timeline would change drastically. More than simply giving Rukia a sister and a happy childhood, the entire future would diverge to a different one. An alternate timeline where Aizen never came to power and the worlds never fell into chaos as the balance of souls was lost.

So Ichigo stayed quiet as the fireworks lit up the night sky. He did his best to mask the myriad of feelings he felt. He had to for the sake of the mission at hand, to save everyone's souls.

But, while everyone else looked towards the sky filled with brilliant lights and sounds, Hisana's gaze was on Ichigo's face. Ever since two years ago, when she first asked him to stay that night and thoughts of romance nestled themselves inside her mind, she had looked at his face whenever she could. From that, Hisana learned how to read through his expressions and judge how he felt.

She peered past the mask with ease by looking into his eyes. Often known as the windows to the soul, she saw what he felt in that moment clearly. Without a doubt, Hisana saw pain that haunted him down to his very being reflected in them.

 **{-oOo-}**

Hisana draped the covers over her little sister sleeping on the futon. Shortly after the fireworks had ended, Rukia yawned and struggled to keep her eyes open. Hisana decided that they would call it an evening and Ichigo got them both back home in short order.

"She didn't put up a fight," Hisana said, turning to Ichigo. He was sitting silently in front of the hearth, stoking the flames surrounded by sand. "She must've worn herself out more than usual."

"I guess so," he said, responding dully. His mind was elsewhere.

Hisana's lips tightened into a thin line. She couldn't stand to see his stunningly azure-eyes clouded by whatever dark thoughts stormed within his heart. She took a seat next to him, curling her knees to her chest. "May I ask a favor?"

He looked up from the flames to her. "Sure."

She licked her lips nervously before taking a deep breath, resigning herself to what she would do next. "Will you tell me what ails you?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, feigning ignorance with the mask he wore.

"Your eyes betray you," she said softly. "Even if you hide it on your face, I can see it in your eyes. I don't know how much I can do, but if you tell me I may be able to ease your burden as you did mine."

"…I can't," Ichigo said, after an elongated pause. "It has to do with my past, and why I'm here. That's all I can tell you. It's my problem to bear alone, and I don't want to drag you and Rukia into it."

"Ichigo…" Her fingers cupped the side of his cheeks and turned his face toward hers.

Even though he didn't resist, he averted his gaze so their eyes didn't meet. It was useless. She could still see the pain in them, and how unbearable it was. It would eat him alive one day if left alone.

Hisana couldn't let that happen to him. Not after all he had done to stop her from giving into despair. She had to do something—anything to avoid letting him suffer. So she gave into the yearning she felt to soothe his pain, and it led to her leaning in and pressing her lips onto his.

The kiss surprised him. His mind blanked, crashing and resetting to slowly register what happened. The rolling fog of euphoria tingling under his skin numbed the pain he felt within, shrouding the bitter thoughts beneath its thick veil and obscuring it from view. Even after she pulled away, the softness of her lips still lingered on his.

Hisana looked down to the ground, holding the tips of her fingers in front of her mouth. Whether it was in shock or shame was a mystery to even her. She settled on both once Ichigo's senses returned.

"What… was that?" he asked, not sure how to react. There were conflicting emotions within him, each vying for a chance to surface. He forced himself to remain calm while they sorted themselves out.

"I shouldn't have done that," Hisana said, her voice was subdued. Fear took refuge in her eyes at the thought of being reproached for what she'd done. All because she had slipped up for a moment and gave into her feelings. "Are you angry with me?"

"N-no…" He cleared his throat. "I just don't understand why you did it."

"I couldn't help it," she admitted. "Whenever I'm around you, or whenever I think about all you've done for us, I find myself wanting to things. Things that I have no right wanting after you've given us so much already."

Ichigo felt compelled to ask, "What sort of things?"

"When I'm with you, my heart… it…." Unable to finish, her hands cupped his and felt the calloused digits and knotted muscle beneath them. She guided them to her chest, slipping them beneath the fabric of the kosode she had changed into when they got back. Her thunderously beating heart could be felt just past her feather-soft and supple skin.

 _"My heart races around you, Ichigo,"_ she whispered. The words were fragile, carefully chosen to best describe what swelled up inside of her. _"It's like it's trying to leap out of my chest to be with you, and pulls my mind and body with it. It urges me to show you how much I care about you, despite not knowing how you feel about me or what it would mean for Rukia and I."_

Her fingers tightened around his hand, and her lithe body trembled. Tears trailed down from the corners of her eyes. "Tell me the truth, Ichigo. Are these feelings of mine in vain?"

He couldn't say that they were. He couldn't say that they weren't either.

Ichigo had been in battle after battle for most of his life after puberty, whether it was with thugs or with Hollows. Victory and defeat, the desire to protect and the drive to win, friendship and rivalry—all of these were simple emotions that he'd encountered and could handle. But romantic love was something he wasn't familiar with, since it was always eclipsed by the looming threat of life or death.

He wasn't even sure he could fall in love. Hell, the moment he first came back in time and stood alone, he wasn't sure he could bring himself to feel happiness. Yet, when he was around Rukia and Hisana, he somehow managed to forget his pain for a time. If that was the case, then there was the possibility he could fall in love, right?

Now that he understood everything, the warring emotions within him settled at that conclusion. The victorious one surfaced and took hold of him. Ichigo leaned in this time, wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing his lips to hers.

It was her turn to be surprise, her eyes slightly widening as he returned the kiss. However, her senses didn't leave her for a time as Ichigo's did. Instead, they guided her into devoting herself to it.

Hisana pressed into the kiss, parting her lips to let his tongue caress hers. Her arms coiled around to his neck and prepared to pull his body on top of hers. Only the sight of Rukia twisting and turning in the corner of Hisana's eyes snapped her out of it. She pulled away from his lips with her face flushed and heated pants escaping her mouth.

Ichigo opened his mouth to say something, only to have her press a finger to his lips to keep them closed. He followed her eyes as they glanced in Rukia's direction. It passed along the message that they needed privacy.

Wordlessly, Hisana rose to her feet and guided him into the rear room….


	6. Chapter 6

**Another chapter that everyone is waiting for.**

 **Akutsu Junya: Turnaround indeed. I will continue on.**

 **kleinegirl87: Read and see.**

 **BruceLeeNagato: Ask and you shall receive.**

 **Lightningblade49: Thank you very much.**

 **Guest: I'll try my best.**

 **NC2001: Paradox is the right word.**

 **clw123cat: They certainly did.**

 **NeoRyu777: You can used it. Read and find out.**

 **Darknessofearth12: Thank you for the praise. Keep on reading.**

 **the unsung antihero: Thanks.**

 **death: Thank you.**

 **SilverIceRing: Thank you.**

 **zitag: Thank you for the comment.**

 **BlackShadow1: Thank you.**

 **Enjoy the chapter.**

The rear room was small compared to the living space that housed the hearth, possibly meant to be storage room of some kind. When the Old Potter had claimed the place as her own she used the larger room as a workshop, saving the smaller room as a place of privacy and rest. Since Hisana relished the warmth of the living space from the smoldering coals, the rear room functioned best as a dressing room and closet.

However, it now served as a place to carry out her first act of intimacy with a man.

A small, tight cry slipped through Hisana's lips as Ichigo's pressed against the crook of her neck, past the collar of her kosode. She laid supine on the futon within the room, stored away during the day so she could ply her craft unhindered. The lambent firelight of the small bronze lantern casted the veil of shadows away from her face, revealing her gleaming eyes and scarlet cheeks.

Things had spiraled out of control from the previous kiss. The two were caught in the tide of emotions, pain and comfort melding together and clouding their senses to everything but the promise of euphoria from giving into their carnal desires. They hurried into the rear room, shrouded in the heat of the moment, and gave themselves over to the rampant passion.

Excitement rolled through Hisana, carnal and frenzied. The rational part of her couldn't believe that she was doing this. But the emotional part of her _yearned_ for this. It was that part which guided her body in lieu of her inexperience, her slender hands grabbing his bed of orange-hair for purchase.

Ichigo breathed deeply her scent as he buried his face into her neck, exhaling to prickle the delicate skin and make her shiver. His fingers slid up her outer thighs, raising the hem of the fabric from her knees until it pooled just above the curve of her backside. The rough digits then came up to the sash holding her kosode closed and pulled it loose, granting him a full view of nubile, yet petite body.

Hisana turned her head slightly, casting her eyes away from his appraising gaze. Embarrassment over being so thoroughly exposed and worry over her body not being to his liking both made her heart hammer in her chest. She flinched as he leaned back in, his head and hands level with her breasts.

His calloused fingers were tender in handling her breasts, almost as if he was afraid of breaking them. They felt soft and pliant, malleable enough for him to shape to his whims. He gave them an inquisitive squeeze, only for her to wince and cry out as the pressure assailed her with an electrifying bliss.

"Should I stop?" he asked, releasing his grasp. He didn't want to hurt her by accident.

Hisana panted softly, her breasts throbbing. It was slightly painful but, at the same time, her body had treasured the sensation of his rough fingers. As strange as it was, she found herself wanting him to throttle them with all the force he could bring to bear.

Of course, she couldn't tell him that. The fear that her desire to have him be even rougher would make her seem lewd kept the words locked away in her throat. Instead, she shook her head and guided his hands back to the pair, silently giving him permission to continue.

Ichigo took it slower than before. He shaped her breasts carefully this time, watching her expression to judge her reactions. Alternating between slightly rough and gentle, he found that she reacted much more vividly when he was firmer and acted on that.

Hisana gritted her teeth behind pursed lips, holding in the heated cries that would give away how much pleasure she derived from his rough kneading of her modest bosom. The rest of her body grew excited as he stopped restraining himself. It left her aroused, both of her nipples erect and hard, while a smoldering heat prickled the slowly opening curls between her legs.

Ichigo leaned down and laved the pink peaks with his tongue, his body moving in accordance to primitive instincts that were drawn to hard points. The reaction he got from it, her entire body jumping up as she cried out, pleased him on that instinctual level and stirred his loins. He moved back and forth between the nipples, wrapping his lips and pulling away so that they popped out with a wet sound.

A staggering, fleeting moan flowed from Hisana's lips. It should have been jubilant cry, a celebration of the way the wet brush of his tongue sent lightning running through her chest and down between her legs. But the part of her that remembered why they came into the room, to avoid stirring her little sister awake, managed to rein it in.

After he had left her erect peaks glistening with his saliva, Ichigo trailed down her soft flesh. His lips conquered the valley between her breasts, sweeping down to her smooth stomach, and then came to a stop when the apex between her legs came into view. He extended his tongue and brought it against the slit, running the point up the narrow gap until it hit the bud peeking out of its hood.

Hisana cried out in shock, bringing her hands down to clench the sheets in a white-knuckled grip. She hadn't even touched herself down there, so having his tongue lave her clitoris sent a jolt of electricity through her entire body and rattled her brain. It was too much for her to handle all of a sudden. She tried to push him away on reflex more than conscious thought, her legs frantically struggling to close.

His strong arms held her legs at bay, his fingers digging into the slender limbs as they pushed back and spread her open further. The firelight of the lantern revealed the parted lower lips, crimson flesh pulsing with heated blood. His tongue ran up and down the exposed slit and upraised bud a second time, her sweet and stifled moans spurring him further on.

"S-Something's co-coming out!" Hisana said after he tormented her with his tongue until she lost count. Something was surging through her, prickling the folds nestled behind the outer lips. Her toes curled and her hips jumped up, remaining in the air as her feet braced the ground. "I-I can't stopppp—ahhhh!"

She climaxed, her voice tapering off into a silent scream as her lungs froze up from the wave of hot pleasure that exploded inside of her. Her inner walls were wracked with contractions and small spasms dominated her body. Clear liquid came gushing out of the lewd chasm to greet Ichigo's erotic teasing, coating his lower face with the proof of how aroused she'd gotten by his tongue-work.

Hisana covered her eyes with her forearm at the sight when he pulled away, a thin string of saliva connecting his outstretched tongue to her crotch. She felt filthy and embarrassed at what had occurred, sweat covering her still-twitching body and her skin flushed red. Never in her life did she think that she would do something as sordid as squirting, much less in front of a man.

But it had felt so good. Her mind almost melted, and the exhaustion washing through her as the orgasm slowly petered out was blissful and relaxing. She feared that she may become addicted to that sinful pleasure.

Ichigo winced as he stood up. He had gotten painfully erect from tasting the lewd honey and seeing her lithe body bask in the afterglow of her orgasm. He undressed and freed the shaft from its confinement, revealing the angry head had a pearlescent bead of pre-cum clinging to the tip.

Hisana's breath was stolen when he stood above her with his manhood on full display. She didn't have any experience to judge by, but she was afraid that it would never fit inside of her. The thought of him trying to squeeze it into the narrow crevice resting between her legs, forcing the inner folds of hot and carnal flesh apart, made her shudder. Her fingers came up to cover her eyes as he kneeled down, sparing her the sight.

"Should… should I stop?" Ichigo asked, his head fogging over in anticipation. In all honestly, he wasn't sure he could. Every instinct within him was screaming to force his way in and relieve the burning in his loins.

Hisana shook her head after a pause, still keeping her eyes covered. She had started this, and she wanted it too. She had no right to deny him satisfaction after he had brought her to climax already. No matter how much she imagined it would hurt. "Please be gentle."

Using his thumbs, he split the entrance open with a wet sound and pressed the tip against it. It was tight as he pushed forward slowly. So tight he wasn't sure that he could fit into her at all.

But his instincts demanded he sheathed himself within the warm bed of soft folds. The demand overruled his attempts at a gentle insertion. He drove his hips forward as hard and fast as he could, piercing through her and sinking to the furthest depths in a single stroke.  
The pain was beyond anything Hisana experienced in life and in death, like she was being split in two. The only thing that stopped her scream of pure agony from reaching all and sundry was that her hands rose up and clamped over her mouth. Even then, it did nothing to dull the pain as her inner walls pulsated around the stout shaft wedged inside. Tears trickled out the corner of her eyes, and soft whimpers followed as the shaft moved to continue.

Ichigo didn't care. He couldn't care, because the moment he had made it all the way inside of her, he was stripped out all his morals and human trappings. He turned into a lust-driven beast, desiring only to procreate and breed.

Hisana strained herself not to scream as he thrust into her relentlessly. It was pure force and speed, no technique or elegance. The friction of his thrusts made her inner walls wetter to cope, slowly transforming the pain to pleasure, but it still stung and left her without a voice. She did her best to bear with it for his sake, hoping he would calm down soon.

Hot pants forced themselves out of Ichigo's throat between the feral groans. He leaned his back straight, grabbed her thighs, and used them as leverage so his piston-like thrusts could reach the entrance to her womb. His loins burned within as her soft folds massaged the length of the shaft, and he felt the explosion ready to come.

Hisana's mind went on high alert when she felt the shaft jump inside of her. The blended pleasure and pain had reached a point where she was enjoying it, but she knew if she didn't say anything he would release inside of her. There was no telling if she would end up pregnant, and she didn't think she could nurture a new life while taking care of her sister.

"Ichigo, stop!" she begged, her voice only rising to the level of a loud whisper. "You can't let it out inside!"

Only heavy pants answered her back. He was too far gone, lost in the moment between instinct and euphoria. The liquid fire began surging through the shaft, too late to stop or control. He froze while inside and positioned to fire straight into her womb, painting the scarlet folds white in his seed.

Fear spiked and sent adrenaline through Hisana's lithe body. She lashed out by pushing him away with all the strength she could manage. The tip came out just as it jumped up and fired strings of white semen on her stomach in pulses. Seeing how much of it covered her stomach, she had no doubt he would have impregnated her.

The adrenaline faded that moment, and pain made itself known between her legs again. He had pierced her cruelly and without any sort of lubrication, so it hurt quite a bit. Between the pain and the narrow escape from responsibility of another child before she was ready, Hisana broke down weeping.

Ichigo sobered now the haze of lust clouding his mind dissipated with release. The sight of a woman crying tears of both pain and relief, trembling on the futon while cradling the region he had been assaulting like a madman, made him realized what he had done. He collapsed on his knees, now flaccid and drained of all the energy before, haunted by his actions.

Then and there, the passion driving them both faded away. In its wake, it left only two broken people in a small room filled with the musk of sweat, sex, and tears.

 **[-oOo-]**

Hisana curled into herself long after the intimacy faded, the sheet of the futon shrouding her naked skin from view. The wavering flames of the bronze lantern reflected the somber shame in her eyes now that she was in her more rational state of mind. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that prior to then she had been a completely different person.

Sitting opposite of her was Ichigo. His waist was covered by the bottom half of a jinbei that he had kept there, rather than the hut he still frequented. He was silent and crestfallen, unwilling to look her in the eyes and rooted to the spot. At least before they had arrived in the room he had tried to mask his pain, but now it was so great he couldn't manage even that.

She frowned, drawing the sheet over her head. Her intentions were only to help him cope with his grief, yet now they were both miserable. All because she let herself slip up and kissed him, spurring him to become that beast he had been at the very last moment.

"…You must think of me as a fickle woman," she said, breaking the awkward silence after gathering her thoughts. "Or that I'm ungrateful after all but throwing myself at you, only to push you away."

"I lost control," Ichigo said as he ran his fingers through his hair. "All I could do was think about myself, and about how great it felt, and how I wanted to release everything inside of you—I had to, or I would've gone insane. If you hadn't managed to push me away at that moment…."

He didn't finish. He didn't need to. If he'd done it, the consequences wouldn't have been something they could walk away from.

She couldn't help but agree with him, though her stance was slightly different. "That would have made things far more complicated than they already are, but you alone aren't to blame. What came over you did the same for me as well."

He breathed out a tired, shuddering breath as he recalled her cries. "No, you were begging me stop. You were in control of yourself."

"Part of me wanted nothing more than for you to continue," she admitted, rubbing the tender spot. Pain still loitered there from how rough he had been. She hoped that it would heal soon. "If you hadn't pushed me to the edge earlier, I fear that I wouldn't have been in the right mind to stop you."

"I hate not being in control of myself or what happens to those around me when I can't do anything about it," he confessed. Whether it was during those times when his Hollow had control of him in battle or the slaughter when he had been unconscious, forcing his return to the past. A bitter laugh escaped his mouth. "I can fight my enemies without the fear of losing control again now, but my first time with a woman and I'm terrified of what would have happened if you didn't have more self-control."

Her shoulders rose and fell. "It was my first time as well. Neither of us knew what to expect, so it overwhelmed us. We know better now."

Even though the words were meant to comfort him, they only made things worse. He slammed a fist onto the floor. "Your virginity was something precious that you can't get back, and I ripped through it for the sake of pleasing my baser desires. I was no better than a Hollow trying to quench its hunger. You deserved better than to be ravaged like that."

"Oh, Ichigo…" Hearing him say that made her rise to her feet. She walked past the bronze lantern, the sheet of the futon draping her like a cloak, and sat next to him. "Despite everything, I'm glad that my first time was with you. I could think of no finer man in my life to give away something that precious…."

She cupped his cheeks as she did earlier that night, guiding him to look at her. Her eyes held only gratitude in them, no anger or sadness. "Even if you don't return my feelings, after tonight I can live with the knowledge that we exchanged something equally precious to one another."

He extended a hand and brushed her hair behind her left ear. "I don't have a lot of experience with relationships in this context, but I think I want this. I'm afraid, but I'll try not to make a mess of it. I won't lose control again."

Hisana took that as a confession and her heart lifted. She pressed her lips to his cheek in an affectionate gesture and then rose to her feet again. "Now, if you'll pardon me, I need to clean myself off and rest. I have a feeling that when morning comes I will be quite busy airing out the room and doing the laundry."

Now that he wasn't wallowing in his own guilt and misery, he could smell the strong scent in the room. It would probably soak into the clothing as well. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Um, I'll see if I can get the day off to help."

She nodded and slid open the door. The flames in the main room had burned out, leaving smoldering coals. Rukia slept on her futon with no signs she had been disturbed by any sounds leaking from the room while they were mid-coitus. A thought crossed her mind just before she crossed the threshold of the room.

Hisana turned back to face her… lover, she guessed would be the most appropriate term. "Ichigo?"

He finished slipping on his top and faced her. "Yeah?"

"I would not be opposed to doing this sort of thing again…." Her cheeks turned crimson at the admission. She shifted around beneath the sheet and peered into his eyes shyly. "Though I'm reluctant to make another attempt until I have finished my convalescence, I imagine it will be more enjoyable if planned ahead for, rather than being as spontaneous as it was tonight."

He was speechless, only able stare at her as she left to get herself cleaned up properly and then go to sleep. In the silence that followed, Ichigo thought to himself about what would come about once he defeated Aizen. Once the future was secure, having children with her wouldn't be out of the question then.

It was a comforting thought to look forward to after the battles that had yet to come.


	7. Chapter 7

**Another chapter is here. And a familiar character comes to play.**

 **Lightningblade49: lol**

 **kleinegirl87: this is time travel story. Hisana met Ichigo first before met Byakuya.**

 **the unsung antihero: First time it goes steamy and the next goes wrong.**

 **Thorndsword: What are you talking about?**

 **clw123cat: She have to push him away because she is not ready to have another child. Taking care of little Rukia is tough enough and add another one could be a hand full.**

 **Guest: Well, keep reading and see.**

 **Harbinger of Kaos: Thank you.**

 **Darknessofearth12: Thank you for the praise.**

 **Guest: Because this is a new story of course.**

 **Guest: Who knows.**

 **Enjoy!**

"He's got a weapon!" Renji Abarai said to the other three boys, who were following behind him while carrying what they could take. Sweat stung his eyes and his lungs burned as he ran from the disheveled looking man flailing the hand-scythe. "Move faster!"

"Come back here you brats!" yelled the man as he chased them down the alley. He was surprisingly nimble for someone who was in a drunken stupor only a few minutes ago. It was only a matter of time before he caught up to one of them if they couldn't shake him off, but his longer legs made that a lot more difficult than they expected.

Renji gritted his teeth. He was in charge of this ragtag pack, and that meant keeping the three of them safe. If he could just find something to use….

Near the center of the alley, where there was a narrow passage from the positioning of the buildings, Renji spotted a girl with purple eyes peeking her head out. She gestured for them to enter it before disappearing inside of the opening. He figured that it would be narrow enough for them to get through and at least slow down the man chasing them.

"Bank right!" he said to the others as they reached the passage. It was narrow enough for them to squeeze through like he thought, but the man didn't stop trying to chase them.

"You brats think I can't get—" His threat was cut-off as a ceramic pot dropped down from the roof and shattered against his head. The man dropped his hand-scythe as he stumbled back a few steps until he slid down against the wall and rubbed his head, wailing in pain.

Renji looked up to see that girl from before climbing down off the roof and coming to a drop at the mouth of the passage, picking up the man's hand-scythe.

She whipped her head around to see the man starting to come out of the pain and put the weapon in the back of her kimono's sash. Then she jumped over them, grabbing Renji's hand and pulling him with her towards the other end. "I know somewhere safe we can hide nearby."

"Lead on," Renji said. He wasn't exactly in a position to argue. They had gained only seconds judging by how the man rose to his feet. And they were all tired and hungry. At this rate, he would catch them unless they found someplace to hide.

She grinned and ran towards another alley curving to the left. The way she navigated through the streets like a native left him wanting to peg her as someone who lived in the district for some time. He hadn't seen her before, but it was a big district and his pack hadn't run this far before.

The only thing that really left him unconvinced that she was like them, kids who were left to fend for themselves and became good at navigating the streets out of necessity, was her kimono. It was _too_ clean and almost undamaged. That meant she had been taking care of them, or someone else had considering how his group's tattered clothes were barely functional.

She came to a stop at a door, opened it, and ushered them inside. They piled inside the dark room and she closed it, pressing her ear to it to listen as the guy ran by. She cracked the door open and peeked her head out. She pulled it back in after a second and gave them a thumbs-up. "Okay, he's gone for now."

The others sighed in relief and sat down on the floor while Renji took a look around. They seemed to be in some kind of pottery workshop, which explained the one she dropped on the guy's head when she helped them. There were two futons folded in the corner, one of which she sat on and kicked her feet.

"You guys were lucky I was there," she said, pulling out the hand-scythe out. "Someone could have gotten hurt."

"Bah!" Renji said. His pride wouldn't let him admit she was right. "We almost lost him on our own."

"You're a horrible liar," the girl said as she smiled smugly at him. "Be grateful—"

The front door opened and revealed an older-looking version of the purple-eyed girl in front of him. She was huffing and looked pretty mad. The purple-eyed girl flinched as the older woman's eyes fell onto her, and Renji noticed that the hand-scythe had disappeared.

"Rukia!" the older woman said sharply. "Where have you been, young lady?"

The girl Renji now knew as Rukia flinched at her tone and rubbed the back of her neck. Her eyes fell on him and he could see that something clicked in them. She hopped off the futon and came over to set her hand on Renji's shoulder. "I was just outside making friends my own age, Hisana-nee."

The older woman called Hisana crossed her arms and raised one of her eyebrows. "Really?"

"Uh-huh." Rukia pushed Renji towards the taller woman. "Introduce yourselves."

Not exactly prepared for the spotlight being placed on him, he stumbled on his words. "Um.. I... uh… I'm Renji Abarai." He gestured to his brown-haired friend that was roughly his size and had one eye covered by his hair. "That's Kanta."

"I'm Misobu," his black-haired friend added, dressed in a yellow kosode with a green-sash that clashed with the colors.

"And I'm Tobi," the largest one said, his hair in a spiky top-knot.

"Hmm…." Hisana rubbed her chin as she stared at all of them. It felt like she was judging them somehow. She turned to Misobu and asked, "When's the last time any of you have eaten?"

"Ahh…" He looked down at the package he was holding, food bundled up in it. "We were planning on eating now."

"But you're all filthy…." She picked at Kanta's clothing and pulled at one of the loose threads. "This won't do at all."

Renji frowned. "What's that's supposed to mean?"

She ignored him and plucked the package from Kanta. "Rukia, get the tub warmed up. Ichigo just filled it this morning so all you have to do is start the fire. I'll work on something for all of you to eat."

"Yes, Hisana-nee," Rukia said. She ran over to a door on the side of the room and opened it to reveal a bathroom that had a wood-fed tub inside of it. She disappeared inside and closed the door behind her.

Hisana immediately went over to the futon and reached between the folds to find the hand-scythe. A frown marred her face. "Oh, that girl really thought she could hide something like this from me…."

"It's our fault," Renji said. He didn't know what kind of relationship they had as sisters, but he wasn't going to let her get in trouble because of them. He paid back his debts. "She was helping us get away from this guy chasing us. We'll leave now so—"

She spun on her heel and glared at them all in a way that made the boys shiver. "Listen here. I'm not letting a bunch of hungry and dirty children go without full stomachs and being clean. So sit down and wait for the tub to warm up."

"Yes ma'am!" they all said in unison, falling to their knees in a perfect seiza position until she took the weapon and disappeared into the backroom. They stayed that way until Rukia popped her head out of a crack in the bathroom door and mouthed an apology.

Renji was left wondering in silence about just what kind of mess he got himself in getting mixed up with these two.

 **[-o0o-]**

Ichigo slowly worked alongside Tetsu as they underwent their apprenticeship under the carpenter, which was a grueling affair every day. The man had been demanding in his standards, but it was because of that Ichigo was able to get a decent bathroom and tub built for Hisana and Rukia.

"Man that guy's a real slave driver," Tetsu said as he carved out a piece of wood from a tree. The head carpenter believed in the whole 'if you want something done, do it yourself' theory. "I can't believe he's made us do this over and over today. It'll be dark before we get home at this rate."

Ichigo shrugged his shoulders. Boring as it was, he was used to it by this point. Plus, he could use Flash Step so time wasn't a factor to him. "You knew what you were getting into. I just hope Rukia doesn't eat all my dinner because I'm late again."

Tetsu laughed. "You're at least lucky enough to have two women waiting for you to get back…."

Ichigo noticed how he trailed off and his face scrunched up in thought. "What's wrong?"

"Keep an eye on Rukia-chan," he said with his voice tempered and cautious. "It might be just a rumor, but supposedly children with spiritual power have been disappearing in the outer districts. More than a few are blaming a Soul Reaper for it."

Ichigo stopped carving and frowned, narrowing his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"You know the only time we ever see a Soul Reaper around these parts is when those monsters pop up," Tetsu said. "That hasn't happened in our district in a few years, so the fact that a Soul Reaper is wandering around on the outskirts of the district before the disappearances stands out."

Ichigo could see the logic behind that. Still, he'd have to do his own investigation into the matter.

"Something has to be done about the district," Tetsu continued. "It's bad enough that there isn't really any place for children to play, but now there's this. I want to rebuild the entire district someday and make it a safe place. "

"One day," Ichigo agreed. He wasn't sure _how_ to pull it off, but one day they would make it happen. However, until then, he planned to make a quick stop at Hisana's place during lunch.

 **[-o0o-]**

"Hahahahahaha!" Rukia laughed, pointing to all of the boys sitting across from her near the flaming hearth. They were wearing some of her spare kosodes that her older sister had gotten her to sleep in, but since they were for girls they all had floral patterns and soft colors. Renji's in particular was pink.

"Will you stop laughing at us?" Renji asked with a pout. His cheeks were red from embarrassment. He wanted his old clothes back, but the scary lady had said they needed something clean to wear before lunch.

"Your sister is a frightening woman," Misobu said between bites, looking over his shoulder to the bathroom. The door was closed, but they could hear her cleaning out the tub. "The food is delicious though."

On that they all could agree as they sat in front of the fire with bowls of rice, grilled fish, and pieces of persimmons for treats. It was easily the most they had ever eaten at once and they were savoring every bite.

"This is the most wonderful meal I've had in my life!" Tobi said with tears of joy trickling out of his eyes. "You're so lucky to be able to eat like this so often!"

Renji said nothing as he wolfed down his food in silence. It had been roughly two days in his case since he had eaten and he couldn't argue with them on the taste. He only took pause from enjoying his meal when he felt the weight of eyes on him and looked up to see Rukia staring at him now that she had settled down from laughing.

"What?" he managed to ask with a mouthful of food. "What'd ya want?"

"Thanks for trying to cover for me, Porky," she said. "We'll call it even for the save earlier."

Renji almost coughed out food he had at the name. "Porky?"

"You eat like a pig and you're wearing pink," she said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Renji swallowed his food and then pointed his chopsticks at her. "Shaddup! I eat like this because I have a lot of spiritual power."

Rukia smirked. "So do I, but you don't see me eating like a pig."

"Do not." Renji said. "You're lying."

"Do too." Rukia said back. "I bet I have more than you."

"Do not!" Renji said, taking a stand. "There's no way a shrimp like you has that much spiritual power!"

"Do too!" Rukia said louder, rising to her feet. "Ichi-nii said that one day I can be a Soul Reaper just like him!"

"Rukia!" The door to the bathroom slid open with a loud thud and revealed Hisana with a scowl on her face. "What have I told you about telling others that?"

"Not to tell anyone else because he might go away…." Rukia's shoulders slumped and she lowered her head. "Sorry, Hisana-nee…."

"And you!" Hisana whipped her head around and glared at Renji, who almost jumped out of his skin. "You should have better manners when you're eating in someone else's house as a guest!"

"Yes ma'am!" Renji said in a hurry. This woman scared him. "Sorry ma'am!"

She wagged her finger at the both of them. "Honestly, the both of you should be ashamed of yourselves and—" The front door slid open before she could go any further and revealed a orange-haired young man. She immediately went from scolding them to sounding as surprised as she looked. "Ichigo, you're back early!"

"I ran over to talk to you about something while we're on break," he said as he stepped inside. "What was with all the shouting?"

Hisana's face took on a minor crimson hue. She didn't want him to hear her like that. "Ah, that's… it's nothing."

Ichigo took stock of the others in the room. He didn't recognize three of the boys, but the red-headed one was unmistakable. "Renji, is that you?"

"Have we met?" Renji frowned in thought, trying to recall when that had happened. Maybe someone he had pilfered from? But no matter how hard he tried, it didn't come to mind.

Ichigo covered his eyes at the blunder. He should have expected Renji to be around if Rukia was, but the district was so big and he hadn't seen him before. "Let's say that we have in passing."

"Ichi-nii!" Rukia ran over and threw herself at his leg, clinging to it. "You're not going to leave us forever because I told them, are you?"

He raised an eyebrow in confusion before kneeling down to pat her head. "Easy there. Tell them what?"

"That you were a Soul Reaper," she confessed. "He was being mean and then Hisana got mad at me, and—"

"Okay, okay," he said, patting her head. "I'm not mad. I have a feeling they can keep it a secret, can't they?"

The kids all nodded. It wasn't like they had anyone to tell in the first place, but far be it for them to risk incurring the wrath of Hisana.

Ichigo continued. "And your sister isn't mad at you either. She's just worried about you like a mother would be. She can't help but want to look after kids like all of you."

"Right…." Hisana said, rubbing her arm sheepishly. "It's not so bad, even if a bit tiring."

Ichigo looked Rukia in the eyes. "But I do need you to stay inside the house with the other kids until morning, okay?"

"Is there something wrong?" Hisana asked while her little sister nodded.

"Tetsu told me that some of the kids in the district with spiritual power have been disappearing, meaning Renji and Rukia would be likely targets," Ichigo said. "This doesn't sit right with me, so I'm going out after work to search for the person responsible and the missing kids after work."

"I'll look after them then," Hisana said. "Just be careful. If something happens to you, Rukia and I would be…."

Ichigo stood up and smiled at her. "I'll be fine, but thanks for worrying about me."

 **[-o0o-]**

Renji watched the two exchanged a look and felt something pass between them, but he was utterly clueless to what the context was. Whatever the case, it seemed to be enough to render the scary woman nice. The change was so abrupt that he wondered if it was a split personality of some kind. He never did understand women, so for all he knew all women were like that in the first place.

Leaving that question aside, too many things about this didn't add up to him. First, there was the fact that this Ichigo-guy popped up and knew his name when they never met before. Then, there was the claim that he was a Soul Reaper, which meant he should have a lot of spiritual power from what Renji knew, but he couldn't feel a thing off the man.

And then there was Hisana suddenly agreeing to watch them like stray puppies for the night without asking for anything in return. That just _didn't_ happen in this district. The adults were all either mean or uncaring, yet she had bathed and fed them before being asked to watch them—supposedly for their own safety.

It was too suspicious to ignore. He wondered if she was normally mean but put on an act of generosity to lure them in for some reason. But what did she gain from it? Whatever it was, Rukia was probably in on it too.

Renji looked over to his friends still eating. He doubted they shared the same thoughts that he did since they were just happy to eat warm food and have a place with four walls. They hadn't even bathed in weeks because getting clean water was a pain and the stream was too far most of the time. Whatever was going on, whether these people were just stupidly nice or planning something, it would be best if they all left later tonight.

He was going to hate having to make them leave it all behind, but it was his job to keep the others safe. He promised them he would when they all banded together to survive in this place. With his mind made up, Renji watched as Ichigo gave the pair of sisters a hug and then left out again.


	8. Chapter 8

**Another chapter is here. Let take a look of the reviews.**

 **the unsung antihero: lol**

 **Lightningblade49: read and see.**

 **Domagonic: Since Hisana met Ichigo, she didn't run away at all. Since taking care of Rukia and have a place over her head, not to mention, Ichigo giving her his money, she didn't get sick at all. That changes the timeline.**

 **Dosudro: Thank you.**

 **Guest: I will listen to the reviews.**

 **ionis45: Thanks.**

 **Enjoy!**

It was well past midnight when Renji sat up in the futon that he and Kanta had been nestled under.

They were inside of the home of Rukia and Hisana, both of whom were asleep in the backroom with the door shut—something or other about girls needing privacy. The one guy they called Ichigo hadn't returned since that afternoon, but the older woman had fed them dinner and allowed them the use of two futons while they shared one out of view. It was the perfect time to slip away.

Renji slipped from under the cover and rose onto his feet, covering his mouth as he yawned. He had to admit that the bedding was softer than what they usually got the chance to sleep on. It was warm too, the soft glow of the coals on the hearth illuminating the room alongside the moonlight from the window.

A hot meal, soft bed, and four walls that kept them nice and warm—it almost felt too good to be true.

He was going to hate having to tear the others away from it all. But sitting here like this didn't sit right with him. Better they leave under the cover of darkness rather than risk discovering that it was all just a lie in the end.

 _"Kanta,"_ he whispered as he jostled his friend awake. "Get up, we're leaving."

The brown-haired boy slowly stirred and sat up. He rubbed his eyes and then looked out the window to see it was still night. "Where are we going?"

"Back to the hideout," Renji said.

Kanta looked down at the futon, thinking about how comfortable he had been. He sighed and asked, "Do we have to leave now?"

"This isn't our place," Renji told him. "We don't want to wear out our welcome. Now c'mon and get up the others. And remember to keep it down so we don't wake the girls up."

Kanta nodded and got onto his feet, going over to the other futon where Misobu and Tobi slept while Renji opened the door and stuck his head out. There were some shouts and drunken slurs in the distance, but that was normal for this district and they were heading in the opposite direction. They could make it to their hideout without any problems.

"Renji?" Tobi called.

Renji turned to see that all of them were up and awake now, standing in a line behind him.

"W-we're not going to take anything, are we?" Misobu asked. The tone of his voice made it clear he wasn't big on the idea.

Looking at them, Renji could tell none of them were. But they would if he told them to. He was their leader after all.

Renji scratched his head in thought for a moment. These futons would be great to have and they had food here too, so there was that. From a purely pragmatic point of view, he should have them take everything they could carry.

But he didn't want to be like most of the adults in the district. It was one thing to take from drunkards and jerks, but for now Hisana and Rukia seemed to be a decent sort. He didn't want to be like the worthless adults by betraying people who were good to them for short-term gain.

And he didn't want to make the guys following behind him into that either. "Nah… we aren't that ungrateful," Renji settled on. "Besides, the scary lady might chase after us to yell if we did."

The other boys sighed in relief. They did what they had to in order to survive, but they at least strove to be better than the others. They could live with themselves knowing they did the right thing.

The four boys slipped out of the door and closed it behind them, running into the night… completely unaware of the purple-eyes that spied on them through the crevice in the backroom door.

 **[-o0o-]**

Ichigo moved through the district and the forests surrounding it with haste, using the trees as platforms to stand on as he manifested spirit ribbons around him. As long as someone was within his range he could solidify their ribbons and use it to lead him towards them. The thicker the ribbon was, the more powerful the spiritual power they possessed.

Most people who had spiritual power didn't have enough to make their ribbons very thick. Hisana, for example, possessed enough to just barely stand out from the average ones, though he memorized her texture. Rukia's was already thicker than her sister's, as was Renji's, and they would only continue becoming more powerful until they gained enough to develop spiritual pressure.

Ichigo hadn't found any red ribbons, belonging to those who had refined their spiritual powers to the point of being Soul Reapers. But he did find two that stood out in the woods, and both of them were fairly thick too. He grabbed them and then followed as quickly and as quietly as possible.

The cloak still billowed around him as he moved, shielding his spiritual power from external sources. If this Soul Reaper was tracking the others down by sensing their latent power, he would completely blindside them and then get some answers. As for what he would do afterwards… well, that depended on the circumstances.

If it was an authorized action then the best he could do was be a thorn in their side until they sent out the big guns. He had jumped back in time, which he was told would be a violation of their laws, and they weren't big on stray Soul Reapers running about to begin with. They wouldn't rest until they captured him, and that was something he simply couldn't let happen before killing Aizen.

At the same time, he couldn't turn a blind-eye to what Tetsu said. This place needed a guardian and he had always been a protector. The fact that he hadn't noticed the disappearances only spoke of how complacent he had gotten since he had come there. Spending time with Rukia and Hisana had made him happy, which he feared was starting to be a luxury that he wasn't sure he could afford if it would interfere with his mission.

Should he distance himself from them? Drop off some of his earnings and leave them to their own devices like he did before the Old Potter died? Cold, pragmatic logic pointed out it would be the smart thing to do. But there were few things left in the world more precious than those two to Ichigo and, after losing everything once before, he wasn't sure he could do that again.

He shook his head and focused on the two ribbons in front of him. They were lengthening, meaning the sources were moving. He could think about everything once he had gotten solid information on the matters at hand.

 **[-o0o-]**

Renji and the others navigated through the web of buildings that made up the district until they hit their hiding spot. It was a small building that had been overgrown by the plants after parts of it caved in, the main entrance being one of them. However, there was an opening near the back that the boys could crawl into because of their size and they used it as a place to escape from others while calling it their own.

Once inside, Renji lit the candles and took his seat on a cushion behind a large box that had been left behind. There was a map of the south districts on it that they used to decide where to go next to scavenge for supplies. When the others took their seats around it, Renji began conversing with them.

"Now, I think that since we just came from the western part of the Inuzuri we should avoid heading back there for about a month," Renji said. "We don't want to run the risk of that drunk guy coming after us. So the question is: where do we go next for supplies?"

"What about the 77th district?" Kanta asked. "We're close enough that it wouldn't take much time than it already does for us to get there and back. And we still have that foxhole to go inside, right?"

"Maybe…" Renji's face scrunched in thought. "But you remember what that big guy said he'd do if he saw us again, right? I don't think we can risk it."

"Or you could return to the Pottery house," someone else suggested.

"That place was suspicious and we didn't want to wear out—" Renji's mouth abruptly closed when he realized that the voice didn't belong to any of the boys. He turned towards the hole they used as an entrance and saw that Rukia was there. "How did you get here?"

"I followed you," she said, holding a cloth folded into the shape of a bag in her hands. Her purple eyes scanned their hideout as she approached their table. "Nice hideout. I wish I had one like it."

"Listen you, go back home and forget about this place," Renji ordered. "No girls allowed."

"Don't be like that, Porky." She set the cloth down and undid the knot, revealing the leftovers from dinner and dried persimmons. "I brought enough for everyone."

"She can stay!" said the three other boys as they helped themselves.

 _"Traitors,"_ Renji mumbled as he slapped his palm into his forehead. There was no helping it, he supposed. He reached out and grabbed one to eat as well, glaring at Rukia the entire time as she scoured their hideout to her amusement.

When she came across a Kemari ball, she started tossing it in the air. "Hisana-nee never lets me play because it's always so dangerous outside and not enough room in our place. I should start coming here from now."

 _Not a chance_ , Renji thought. He would have said it out loud, but he was busy eating.

 **[-o0o-]**

"Rukia!" Hisana called as she ran through the streets of the district, looking for her sister and the boys that were entrusted into her care. They were nowhere to be seen when she had woken up because Rukia had vanished from her futon. Even if there wasn't someone kidnapping kids, they shouldn't be out at this time of night anyway.

She couldn't stand the thought of losing her sister, and Ichigo entrusted those other boys into her care. Even if he hadn't she would have taken them in for at least a few days. They were so young and, looking at them, Hisana imagined that Rukia could have been like them had Ichigo not intervened. She still hadn't forgiven herself for doing that, even if he did.

"Rukia!" she called again, coming to a stop at a crossroads. Her lungs burned and sweat glistened on her forehead from the effort. Taking a deep breath, she called out again as loud as she could. "RUKIA!"

"Quit yelling!" said a haggard voice from the mouth of the alley.

Hisana jumped at the sound, reaching behind her back for the hand-scythe that her sister had gotten from somewhere. She wasn't the type to get into a fight, but she thought it would be best to carry something to use as a threat if she was going out late at night.

That being said, she really hoped that she didn't have to use it. "Who's there?"

From the shadows a man poked his head out, a bottle in his hand and the scent of sake on his breath even with ten feet between them. His clothes were caked in dirt and dried stains. He scowled at her, one eye opened. "Some guy who is trying to sleep."

"Have you seen a little girl out here?" she asked desperately. "Or four boys, shorter than me? One has red-hair?"

"I did see some people running down towards the south," the man admitted. "Didn't get a good look, but they were too energetic for anyone else but kids. Now pipe down and let me sleep!"

"Thank you," Hisana said, before taking off in that direction. It was the best lead she had for the time being.

 **[-o0o-]**

"Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I want some answers," Renji said after swallowing the last bits of his food. "Why did you even follow us in the first place? We didn't take anything from you."

"I came to bring you back," she said, wagging her finger at him. "Ichi-nii told you to stay at our place for your own safety. If there's another Soul Reaper taking kids—"

Renji scoffed. "First, we can take care of ourselves. Second, we ain't taking the word of some guy pretending to be Soul Reaper."

Rukia ran up to him and poked him in the chest. "He is a real Soul Reaper. He even taught me how to use my spiritual power a little!"

"Did not," Renji said.

"Did too," Rukia said.

"Did not!" Renji said louder.

"Did too!" Rukia said just as loud.

After a few more times of back and forth, Renji stood up and crossed his arms. "Then prove it!"

"I will!" Rukia held her hands out in front of her and congealed her spiritual power like Ichigo taught her. It appeared as a spinning orb in the palm of her hands, its glow reflecting in the eyes of everyone who had gathered. She couldn't hold it for more than a few seconds though, and it vanished with a huff.

"Haa… ha… told… you…" Rukia said between pants as the other boys clapped, leaving Renji red in the face. Taking a deep breath, she then stood up straight. "Ichi-nii is a Soul Reaper, and he said it was dangerous, so let—"

WHACK!

All of them jumped when something loud slammed against the wall of the building, splintering the wood with audible cracks. They huddled together as whatever it was slammed into the wood again, breaking several panels open. The third time revealed a man dressed in Soul Reaper robes' as he forced his head and torso through.

Every sense they had told them something wasn't right. The skin didn't fit properly on his face, his mouth was gaping with drool running from it, and his eyes were yellow pupils that shone in the candle-light. It was something else wearing a man's skin, badly at that.

 _"I can smellll it… spiritual power…"_ He began to crackle madly, and then his skin split open. A tenebrous mass burst forth to take the shape of a simian wearing a white mask with red decorations on its face. It was a Hollow, whose mouth opened to reveal a second set of razor-sharp teeth that drizzled with saliva in hunger.

Its voice sent a chill up their spines as it whispered, _"Time to eat…"_

 **[-o0o-]**

Ichigo traced the source of the two spiritual powers that he had been tracking and found they belonged to two children he hadn't met before.

The girl was blonde with a spot of pink in her hair and wearing a short, light-pink kosode that was torn around the bottom. The boy was wearing a ratty kimono that was torn around the chest and had dark hair draped over his right eye. They were hiding behind some bushes, cowering in one another's arms while staring at him in primal fear.

"It's okay," Ichigo said, kneeling down on the ground in a placating manner some distance away. "I won't hurt you. I came looking into the disappearances of the children from the nearby districts."

"You're one of them, aren't you?" the girl asked, hatred in her eyes as she held her brother dearly. "Just like that man from before who wore the black robes."

 _So it was another Soul Reaper_ , Ichigo thought before addressing them again. "What did this man do to you? Where is he?"

"He… he turned into monster," the boy said. "He turned into a monster and devoured our mother in front of us. We barely managed to get away."

"Monster…." His eyes widened and then his expression turned grim. "Did this monster have a white mask?"

They nodded.

He swore under his breath. It was a Hollow. Worse than that, it was a Hollow that could masquerade as a Soul Reaper or merge into one.

Ichigo's thoughts fell back to what he knew of the time period. They were still some time away from when the Vizards were formed, but given how long-lived Soul Reapers were he guessed that Aizen was already starting his experimentation on the process of Hollowification.

Was Aizen around now then? What if a battle was to breakout at this moment? Would Ichigo be able to defeat him as he was? So many questions that he didn't have the answers to, all of which he desperately needed answered.

He took a deep breath and sorted them out as best he could. While Aizen wouldn't be as strong as he was in the previous timeline just yet, he was still a credible threat against Ichigo before he completed the Quincy side of his training—more so if he got careless and witnessed the man's Zanpakuto being released.

But there was no guarantee Aizen was even around, otherwise Ichigo would sense his spiritual power or pressure and react appropriately. As long as he kept his senses open and remained aware, he would be all right. What he needed to do right now was deal with the Hollow running around before it kept preying on people.

Ichigo rose to his feet and stepped towards the kids. "Let's get you somewhere sa—"

Just like that, they were gone in a plume of dark smoke.

Ichigo blinked. That was new. He immediately formed spirit ribbons only to find them on the edge of his sensing range, too fast and too far to be a Flash Step.

He was primed to chase after them, but decided against it when he heard the cry of the Hollow in the middle of a hunt. More ribbons entered into his view as their owners grew closer. He recognized three of the four ribbons, and the one he didn't recognize was the one he witnessed being ripped apart as the owner of it was consumed.

Ichigo moved as fast as he could before someone else died.


	9. Chapter 9

**New chapter is here. Let see what happened.**

 **Harbinger of Kaos: You have to read on and see.**

 **Lightningblade49: ^_^**

 **norris321: Thank you.**

 **the unsung antihero: hahaha...cliffhangers...lol**

 **ahsanrox: Yep yep.**

 **Vizual-Era: Thanks.**

 **batosaix: chapter may be short but at least it's keep up the pace.**

 **Domagonic: More will reveal later on.**

 **LuciaKuchiki: I'm glad you like the story.**

 **Enjoy!**

Run or die—those were the only choices the kids had.

The Hollow wasn't something any of them could fight or reason with. The hunger in its eyes burned like a wildfire, its desire to desperately consuming everything nearby given form. The way its tongue lolled out of its mouth as it stared them down made it clear they would die as food meant to temporarily sate its insatiable hunger.

"Go!" Renji ordered, pushing Rukia towards the exit first and kicking one of the candles onto the floor. The dust and dry wood went up quickly, turning their base into an inferno. "Everyone run!"

The kids' flight response kicked in between the two immediate threats and Rukia got clear first, scraping her knee against the ground and bleeding as the rest followed after her. Adrenaline numbed the pain and she pulled Renji to his feet as he stumbled out next. Misobu and Kanta followed, leaving Tobi the last. He was partly through the hole, on his hands and knees, when the Hollow's tail slithered around his leg and pulled.

"Help me!" Tobi screamed as he clawed at the ground, looking for any of them to help him with pleading eyes.

Renji dove towards his hands, only for them to be jerked into the burning building. "Noooo!"

A blood-curdling, wet crunch silenced the screams as the air was filled with the coppery scent of blood mixed in with acrid smoke. Bones being chewed on followed, breaking under the stress of teeth pressing down on them as the flames devoured the wood as well. Then there was the sound of meat and bones being swallowed in an audible gulp.

"T-Tobi…" Renji whimpered as the chewing began again, tears streaming down his cheeks. One of his best friends was gone, just like that. The kindest of them was nothing more than the meat in the monster's stomach.

 _"Run, run, run as fast as you can, little morsels,"_ said the Hollow, its voice reaching past burning building. _"I'll catch and eat you all, one-by-one."_

Kanta was the first to move at the provocation, screaming as he ran towards the woods to get away from the Hollow before it came after the rest of them. Misobu followed him silently, too horrified to scream. Renji was still in shock, listening to what remained of his lanky friend end up in the belly of the monster as it started chewing again.

"C'mon!" Rukia grabbed his hand and pulled him along. "W-we have to go!"

It took a few more tugs before he started moving and running along with her into the woods. They barely made it past the tree-line before the wooden exterior of their base exploded outwards in a spray of splinters. The Hollow's cry reverberated throughout the air afterwards.

The hunt was on.

 **[-o0o-]**

Hisana felt her stomach drop. Every part of her body was telling her to run away from the monstrous cry that rang out in the night. However, the glow of firelight and rising smoke acted as a beacon that drew her regardless.

When she arrived the fire was still burning, but the walls of the building were collapsed. There were bloodstains amidst the rubble, along with pieces of charred fabric from the kosode that she had given one of the boys. No bones, so the fire didn't get to whoever it belonged to. Hisana couldn't help but wonder exactly where the others had run off to, or if they were safe.

The answer came when birds scattered out of the trees beneath the moonlight as something disturbed their slumber.

Hisana reasoned that was where they were likely to be and ran into the woods, ignoring her own body's desire for self-preservation for the sake of her little sister.

 **[-o0o-]**

Their run came to an abrupt end when Rukia tripped over an upraised root on the twig-and-leaf laden floor of the woods. The pair tumbled apart, landing in the dirt. Both panted as their bodies demanded rest after the long run.

Rukia struggled onto her feet, but her legs gave way. The pain from her scraped knee had become more pronounced. She bent down on her other knee and cradled the wounded one with her hands. "Ow…."

It hurt more than she expected, but Rukia knew they couldn't rest long. The creature would come after them soon. She turned to Renji, her lips moving to tell him to start running again, but the words died when she saw him on his hands and knees crying. It was such a shift from how brash and rude he normally was that she forgot her own pain and crawled over to him.

"I couldn't help him," Renji said, tears stinging his eyes while his legs pulsated from the running. "He had asked me to help him, and I just let him get eaten in front of me. He was always a softie and the slowest one of us, but we all liked him. What kind of leader can't even protect the people that he's supposed to?"

Rukia sat there quietly, not sure what to say. She hadn't known him long, but he did seem like a gentle giant. Hisana liked him too since he praised her cooking.

But now he was gone, just like they would be if they didn't keep moving. "We have to find the others before it does and get somewhere safe until Ichi-nii finds us. He can stop it."

"If that guy was a real Soul Reaper, then why isn't he here now?" Renji demanded with a hoarse rasp. "That thing's a Hollow, isn't it? Why isn't he here taking care of it? Isn't that a Soul Reaper's job?"

"Because you left the house," Rukia argued. "He told us to stay there while he looked into the missing kids, and you took the others and ran off. If you had just stayed with us then this wouldn't be happening!"

Renji rose to his feet, towering over her, and shouted down at her. "You sayin' this is my fault!?"

Rukia tried standing up, but her knee buckled under the weight and pain. Still, she looked up at him defiantly. "I'm saying that you shouldn't have left in the first place. My sister and I treated you all fine, and then you just ran off—"

"Because it didn't make sense!" Renji yelled. "People don't help each other out here without expecting anything in return. You, and that woman, and that guy were probably just acting nice! I bet it was all a set-up, probably working with that guy chasing us in that alley. That monster was probably sent by him, the phony Soul—"

 **SLAP!**

Renji blinked absent-mindedly as he registered the pain in his cheek from where Rukia had slapped him. It stung like fire, throbbing with pain. He raised his fist to take a swing in retaliation, but stopped when he saw that she was on the verge of crying already.

"I just wanted friends," she said, her eyes starting to water from fear and sadness. "I finally found people my own age that I could be friends with. That was why I helped you get away from that man! Was that wrong?"

Renji silently rubbed his cheek and listened. That guy had a weapon and was willing to kill them, but she helped them just because she wanted friends? Was she really that lonely despite having such a nice place to live, food to eat, and people who cared about her?

Rukia continued uninterrupted. "Then, when Ichi-nii said for you to spend the night, I was so happy because Hisana-nee doesn't let me go out often or talk with people because it's dangerous. But you all ran away, and I came after you… and now this happened."

He couldn't help but doubt himself. All he wanted to do was be reliable, and lead their group so they could survive. The anger-borne strength left Renji and he fell onto his knees in front of her. "We're all going to die here, aren't we?"

Rukia shook her head, refusing to believe that. If she didn't believe that someone would come to save them, then she wouldn't be able to move. "We need to go need to go find the others."

"… Right," Renji said, scratching his head as he rose to his feet. When he saw that she was still struggling to get on her own feet, he held out his hand for Rukia to take. "Here."

She reached up to take it when something wet and heavy abruptly slammed into the ground next to them. It was the sleeve of a kosode, covered in blood, with a hand attached. It was Misobu's hand to be precise. The Hollow had gotten to him, so that was possibly the biggest piece of him that they would find.

 _"Two down, three to go,"_ the Hollow purred, its voice echoing through the trees. _"I'll save you both for last. Appetizers before the main course…. "_

"I'll kill you!" Renji stated, staring down at his friend's hand. Fury had risen in place of fear at the loss.

"We have to find the other one," Rukia said, trying not to throw up at the sight of the dismembered hand. She buried her head into his shoulder and continued. "Before it's too late, we have to move."

They hobbled deeper into the woods to find Kanta, before he was devoured as well.

 **[-o0o-]**

Kanta was tucked away inside a narrow cleft made by two large, moss-covered rocks that were resting against one another and covered by a bush. Sweat dotted his forehead and he was coiled into a ball since it was such a small hiding place, but he was sure than the monster wouldn't find him there. After all, when they played hide-and-seek in the woods, he always hid there and was never found.

The difference was that he was using it as a means of survival, trying to get away from something that frightened him on an instinctual level. The way the monster had just eaten Tobi was so foreign to him. He was having trouble comprehending it.

The kids were used to being chased or being threatened with being killed. The fear from that was something they weren't quite used to, but they understood it on a mental level. It was something they could grasp.

But that thing wasn't going to _just_ kill them. It was going to eat them, leaving so little of them behind that there would be nothing left to grieve over. The fear that he felt was the sort that belonged to prey in the face of a superior predator. He was at the bottom of the food chain, and all he could do was scurry away and hide until the monster had its fill of his friends.

Kanta hated that. He hated that he ran away solely to save his own skin, but there was nothing he could do. It was them or him, and he ran to make sure it was him. There was no doubt in his mind he would regret it later on, but he'd be alive to do it.

The bushes rustled and his heart stilled. Did the monster find him? He shivered, holding his breath and praying to whatever god there was that he never believed in. Then the bushes parted to reveal Renji and the girl who had came to their base.

"R-Renji," he stuttered. "You found me?"

"Well, yeah," Renji said. "You always hide here. I just never bothered to call you out on it when we played before. Anyway, c'mon, we need to get somewhere safer."

He shook his head. "There's nowhere for us to go. Our base burned down and that thing is still out there."

"We need to go somewhere Ichi-nii can find us then," Rukia said. "He'll kill it."

"I'm too scared," the boy admitted. "I don't want to be eaten, Renji. I don't want to die like Tobi did."

"No one does," Renji said. "But hiding here isn't going to help. Please, I don't want to lose you too. We need to stick together, or it'll just keep us apart and pick us off one-by-one."

Kanta looked up as Renji offered his hand and took it. They emerged from the tiny niche, not seeing the slender tail as it coiled around Kanta's neck until it was too late. The boy's neck snapped faster than he could register and he died instantly.

The tail lifted his body up to the Hollow perched on the tree next to his hiding place as it grinned. _"Then there were two…."_

 **[-o0o-]**

Hisana trekked carefully over the upraised roots in the woods, navigating through the darkness as best she could. Terror was a constant companion, lurking behind every corner and within every shadow. Only her concern for her sister allowed her to brave the depths of the woodlands in search of her.

That was also the only reason she didn't run from the horrid sound of something wet and hard being crunched continuously. It made her legs heavy, and her skin prickle as horror bubbled up in her stomach. But she pressed onwards, and was rewarded by the sight of the Hollow on the ground.

Blood stained its mask as it chewed loudly on the abdomen of one of the boys, using a hand to force more of it into its mouth. It was standing on top of the red-haired boy she had taken in, who swore loudly about how he would kill the monster, and Rukia. So enraptured by its capture and meal, it paid no mind to Hisana as she reached her trembling hand behind her back and grasped the shoddy hand-scythe.

Taking a deep breath, Hisana ran out and tried to cut it down with an overhead swing to save her sister… and was promptly batted aside as the tail came around and caught her in the ribs.

"Agh!" A pained groan slipped out of Hisana's mouth as she collided with a tree, subsequently sliding down as her body was wracked with pain.

"Hisana-nee!" Rukia screamed. She struggled to get free from beneath the curved simian toes as they held her in check effortlessly.

The Hollow swallowed what was left Kanta and then hefted Hisana up to its face. _"Not much power in you, but more than the other appetizers."_

It sniffed her, and then it ran its long tongue against her thighs and savored the softness of her skin in a slow motion. _"Mmm… you're quite a delectable thing, aren't you?"_

"Let her go!" Rukia demanded.

 _"Prey presumes to tell me what to do?"_ The Hollow tightened its grasp on her small body until it was a hair's edge from breaking. _"For that, I will take my time with every bite and make her suffer. Watch as your sister becomes my next meal, knowing that once I'm done with her, you'll be joining her in my stomach as well."_

Rukia could only watch in horror as the Hollow forcibly stretched Hisana's arm and then bit down.

Hisana screamed, jerking and trying to pull away only to scream louder as blood seeped through and stained her sleeve. The teeth had only just broken her skin at the shoulder, but she felt something sinking into her from the wound. And, if it bit any deeper, it would take the entire arm off at the socket.

Rukia could only cry. Her sister was going to die and there was nothing she could do about. In desperation, she fought the pain of the toes curling into her and screamed as loud as she could. "ICHI-NIIIIII!"

 **[-o0o-]**

He heard her voice, the desperate cry for help, and moved with the shorter of the blades in his hand. A Flash Step brought him in front of the Hollow, and the attack was unleashed before it could react. A blue fang of condensed spiritual power cleaved the Hollow in half vertically, and gravity did the rest.

"I'm so sorry." Ichigo said as he caught Hisana before she could hit the ground. He looked over the bloodstained wound. It was bad, but nothing he couldn't run her over to a doctor to patch as long as it wasn't infected. "Just hold on, okay?"

Hisana shook her head. "I can feel it inside of me… _changing_ me…."

 _"Ichigo, she's right,"_ the Old Man spoke from within his soul. _"The lingering spiritual power of the hollow is spreading throughout her body from the wounds. It resembles a rudimentary form of hollowfication."_

"You… you have to kill me," she said, swallowing as she felt herself burning on the inside. "I don't want to become a monster that threatens children."

He shook his head, azure eyes clouded by regret and sorrow. "I can't lose anyone else. I came back to stop that from happening."

She struggled through the pain to raise her hand and caressed his cheek, forcing a smile onto her face. "That day we met, you gave me a life with my sister that I never thought I would have. I wouldn't regret dying in your arms."

"Ichi-nii, help her!" Rukia cried, sitting next to her sister. "You can do something, can't you?"

Ichigo's mind came up with nothing. The only person he could think that could do something was Kisuke Urahara, and he'd never find him in time. There was nothing he could do.

"Ichigo will look after you," Hisana told her sister, gently patting her head. "You'll be good for him, won't you?"

Unable to stand it anymore, Rukia started bawling. Her tiny fingers clenched her sister's clothes and she buried her head into the fabric to weep. "You can't leave me!"

Ichigo felt himself falling into despair, and his inner-world began to flood once more. He'd failed again. Aizen had taken another person close to him.

 _"Have you forgotten already?"_ the Old Man said from within his inner-world. _"You are not solely a Soul Reaper, nor are you a Hollow. You are a Quincy, and Quincies eliminate Hollows entirely. Resolve yourself, Ichigo, and call upon your heritage!"_

"Right," he said, removing his cloak. "Sit back, Rukia. I'm going to try something."

Rukia did so, wiping her eyes and watching on as Ichigo held Hisana against his chest.

His spiritual powers came into view, turning from blue to white. The power seeped into Hisana's body, causing her to tense in his grasp and gasp for air as pain accompanied it. But he could feel the Hollow's power within her, a dark presence steeped in misery and hunger.

When the two powers met, his greater power eroded the Hollow's away to nothing and wiped her soul clean of its influence. It was too much for Hisana and she fell unconscious, but it saved her in the end.

"Will she be okay now?" Rukia asked.

"Yeah," he said, putting back on his cloak before someone took notice of the abnormal spiritual power. "I got rid of it from inside of her, but I need to get her to a doctor for the injury after I drop you two back at home."

He grabbed all of them and moved as quickly as he could. He could think about what to do next after the people closest to him were safe and sound. Then he would focus on Aizen, and make sure he never did anything like this again.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello, another chapter is here.**

 **Lightningblade49: Maybe maybe.**

 **the unsung antihero: read it and see.**

 **Harbinger of Kaos: Don't be too sure.**

 **Akutsu Junya: Read this chapter first before you make your judgment.**

 **norris321:Thank you.**

 **ahsanrox: who knows.**

 **Bobby Hill: Good to hear.**

 **NC2001: read and see.**

 **iamAdisco: thank you.**

 **BlueShard20: i won't answer that. Just read and see.**

 **M8T: Hisana go after the kids that are close by while Ichigo is on the other side.**

 **Enjoy!**

Renji sat atop a grassy cliff in the woodlands the day after that nightmare had passed.

The sun had risen only hours ago, yet he was covered in dirt and sweat from erecting the makeshift graves for his fallen friends. They were simple wooden posts buried in mounds of dirt, but he at least took the time to carve their names into the wood. That way they would have something left to their names.

It was all he could for them now.

 _"Misobu, Kanta, Tobi,"_ he said softly, staring at their names. Tears slowly began to trickle from the corners of his eyes and seeped into the ground. "I'm sorry. You all listened to me and died for it…."

He would never again see their smiles, or hear their laughs. They were dead and gone, while he survived to live with the guilt and grief. He couldn't help but think that this was his punishment, to live knowing that it was his fault that they had perished.

"The pain won't ever really go away," he heard from behind him. Renji craned his head around to see that the orange-haired Soul Reaper was there, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed. "Even time won't be kind enough to rob you of the loss completely."

Renji sniffled as he wiped away the tears and asked, "How did you find me?"

He raised his hand and a ribbon slowly formed, linked to Renji. He grasped it. "This is a manifestation of your spiritual power. As long as you're within the range I can sense and we've met before, I can find you."

"D-Do you think I wrong?" he asked in a small voice. "If we hadn't left that night, then they would still be alive."

"…There's no way of knowing," Ichigo admitted, after an audible pause. "I didn't suspect that a Hollow was responsible until it was too late, so there's no guarantee that it wouldn't have attacked there either."

That didn't make him feel any better. All it meant was that he couldn't have changed the outcome anyway because he was too weak. He stood up and looked at Ichigo with a determined expression on his face. "Can you train me?"

"All I can do is show you how to swing a sword around," Ichigo said as he straightened up and rolled his shoulders. "You'll have to join the Academy for the rest of your training and to get a Zanpakuto."

Renji nodded. "Fine, but I have to get stronger as quickly as possible."

Ichigo sighed. "I know that feeling… In the meantime, let's get you back to Hisana's place. You'll need somewhere to stay and I think I can convince her. "

The red-haired youth looked down at his feet at that. He still felt guilty that Rukia's sister got hurt for them too, and he didn't want to ask her for a place to stay when he hadn't even apologized yet. "Is there somewhere else we can go?"

"Hmm…." Ichigo scratched his head in thought. "Well, there's my place. I fixed it up for the most part, but it's nowhere near as comfortable as her place."

"I don't need comfort," Renji said.

"All right then." Ichigo took a few steps and set a hand on his shoulder. "Let's go."

Then they were both gone in a Flash Step.

 **[-o0o-]**

Rukia sat by her sister's side as she laid on sleeping on her futon.

She couldn't help but feel as though she was responsible for what happened in the end. Hisana had come looking for her, and she had thrown herself at the monster for Rukia's sake. If Hisana hadn't then it would have eaten her.

Even though Ichigo said she would be fine and wake up soon before he left to find Renji, it hurt seeing her like this. There was nothing Rukia could do, and that was more terrifying than even the monster. It seemed she never could do anything for Hisana besides cause trouble.

Ever since she had been a baby, Hisana had always been strict with her. Rukia felt constrained because of that, but there was no denying all the times that she had also been tender and loving. It was all because Hisana was trying to raise her well in such a cruel place that she was so strict. And yet, now she was injured because she tried so hard to protect Rukia from a threat she had been led into.

"I'm so sorry, Hisana-nee." Rukia said, tears welling up and trailing down her cheeks. The pain scratching at them made her close her eyes tight, and she sniffled. "I'm just a burden, aren't I?"

"Never say that," she heard, followed by a soft touch upon her head. Her eyes opened to see her sister patting her head while looking up at her with a soft, yet weak, smile. "You are never a burden to me. If anything, I owe you an apology."

Rukia shook her head. "What are you saying!? I'm the one who causes all the problems for you!"

"Oh Rukia," she said gently. Then she took a deep breath and cupped her cheek. "This is going to be hard for me to admit, but… I was going to abandon you, when we first arrived and you were a baby."

Rukia's stomach dropped at the confession. "Y-You were really going to abandon me?"

Hisana nodded slowly, pressing her lips into a sad smile. "I was scared. I had just arrived and I wasn't sure how I was going to take care of myself, let alone someone else. So I left you on the doorstep of this very place, with the old woman who lived here."

More tears fell from Rukia's eyes, knowing that her sister was willing to abandon her before she could even walk. "So I was unwanted, and now—"

"No!" Hisana rose and pulled her in for a hug, embracing her tightly. "I wasn't good enough to be your sister, and I regretted it right away. I broke down crying over what I had done. That's when I met Ichigo."

"Ichi-nii?" She sniffled. "Did he know too?"

"He was the one who stopped me," Hisana told her. "He had you in his arms and yelled at me about abandoning you, and how it would have been the biggest mistake of my life. He was right, I never would have gotten to raise such a wonderful little sister if I ran away. So, never think that I regret having you here by my side, Rukia. I'm the one who has to regret never being good enough for you…."

Rukia brought her hands around Hisana's neck and hugged her back. "You're more than good enough! You've made sure that I'm always safe and had food and held me! You're the perfect big sister—no, you're like my mother!"

"Thank you for saying that." Hisana gave her a kiss on the forehead and pulled back. "I consider you a daughter as well, and I'll always be there for you no matter what. So never say that you're a burden to me. If anything, you're a blessing that I wouldn't trade anything for."

"This is a sight to see," they heard from the door. Ichigo was standing there, with a nervous looking Renji peeking out from behind him. "It's great when family gets along."

"Ichi-nii!" Rukia darted forward and slammed into his legs, embracing them in a hug. "Hisana-nee woke up!"

"That's good, isn't it?" He reached down patted her on the head, fixing his gaze on Hisana. "I'm happy you're okay now. You gave us quiet a scare."

"It's only because you found us in time." Her soft eyes drifted past him and to the red-haired boy by his side. "I'm happy to see you're doing well too."

"About that…." Renji cautiously stepped forward, scratching the back of his head. Once he was at the foot of her futon, he kneeled and bowed his head. "I'm sorry you got injured because of me. I was wrong not to trust you, thinking you were too kind."

"That's fine," she said. "What matters now is that you're safe. Do you have someplace to stay with your old place burned down?"

"I'm staying with Ichigo," he said.

Rukia looked at him with renewed curiosity. "You're staying with Ichi-nii now?"

Renji nodded seriously. "For now, anyway. He promised to teach me how to use a sword."

Her eyes sparkled at the thought, steel lurking within them. She looked up to Ichigo and said, "Teach me to use one too!"

"Rukia," Hisana said in a disapproving tone. "You shouldn't ask him to let you do something so dangerous."

The youngest of the sisters turned and pounded her hands to her chest. "I want to be able to fight in case monsters show up again. I don't want to be helpless again."

"Now, now, you two. We can talk about this later," Ichigo said. "For now, go see Tetsu. He's going to take you both out to eat and then help Renji find some clothes while I look after Hisana for a bit."

"Oh… but…." Rukia trailed off, not really sure if she should leave her sister's side.

"Go," Hisana said. "I'll be fine with Ichigo, and Tetsu is a good man. Just remember not to tell him about Ichigo's powers, okay?"

"Okay, Hisana-nee." She ran over and gave her older sister a hug, heading out the door afterwards with Renji in tow.

 **[-o0o-]**

Ichigo watched them leave with his fellow carpenter apprentice. Once they were out of view, he closed the door and turned towards Hisana. "How do you really feel?"

"I'm still exhausted," she admitted, "and I smell like sweat from all the running I did the night before. The wound doesn't hurt as much, but I still feel sore in my shoulder."

"It'll be some time before it completely heals, but I can at least draw you a bath," he said, slipping off his sandals and then trotting over the floor towards the bathroom.

"Wait," Hisana said. When he did, she asked, "You aren't really going to teach them how you use a sword, are you?"

Ichigo nodded. "I am, when I get the time."

"But why?" she asked.

Ichigo closed his eyes and tilted his head towards the ceiling in thought. "I understand where both of them are coming from. After all, my mother died protecting me from a Hollow because I was too weak, and my friends fell to them as well because I wasn't there to protect them. Last night, both of those events were playing out in front of me again, and it was lucky that I made it when I did."

Hisana looked down at that. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you."

"Don't apologize for doing what you had to." Ichigo kneeled down so that they were eye-level. "You couldn't sit back and be helpless while others died in front of you. That applies to them as well. So, I'm going to teach them, if only because it would give them something to channel their emotions into and stop them from feeling helpless."

Hisana sighed, rubbing her wounded shoulder. "I don't like it, but… you may have a point."

His expression softened and he leaned in kissing her on the lips. It was a gentle kiss, not pressing or forceful. He was treating her like glass-work, fragile in her current state.

The gesture caught her off-guard, but she returned it in full. She brought her hand behind his head to pull him in deeper. Only when her shoulder throbbed did she break the kiss, wincing. "Ow."

"Sorry," he said, looking at her shoulder. "I'll reapply the pain ointment after the bath, just give me time to get it heated up."

 **[-o0o-]**

Less than an hour later, Hisana found herself being grateful that the steam filling the bathroom hid her face well.

Ichigo was with her, scrubbing her down from behind with a sponge and leaving her lathed with scented soap bubbles that floated on top of the water. It was embarrassing because she did the same thing when bathing Rukia. While she wasn't a child who needed coddling, he still insisted since with one shoulder injured her range of motion was limited.

Though things quickly went from embarrassing to awkward when she felt something hard brushing against her hips and looked down to see that he had gotten aroused. "Ichigo…."

"Sorry," he told her, sounding sheepish at the very least. "I am a man, and you are very beautiful. It'll go back to normal after a moment, just ignore it."

Hisana thought about doing that for a moment before reaching down into the water and closing her fingers around his erection in a gentle embrace. The shaft felt hard and strong, making her heart leap inside of her chest at what she was doing. Leading into sex wasn't something she had much experience with, since he took the reins during their intimate times, but she felt the need to start this time.

"Hisana," he said with a slight hitch in his voice. Her hand felt nice, running back and forth slowly while twisting in the process. It was a unique feeling that added to his excitement. "You don't have to do that. You're injured."

"I just want to," she admitted, grateful for the steam hiding her face once more. "We're both still tense from last night, and I believe that we could both use the catharsis while we're alone, so… just be gentle, okay?"

"I'll try." Ichigo bought his hands up slowly to grasp her breasts from behind, lightly squeezing with his fingers to knead the pair.

A soft, heated exhalation left her nose. His fingers made sensual heat bubble up in her chest, and it slowly slid down her spine until her back was arched. Hisana sped up her hand in return, twisting her head around to look him in the eyes and pass along a silent message.

Ichigo pulled her in close, having understood what she wanted. The water at their waist splashed around as the gap between them was closed, spilling over the rim. He didn't pay it any mind as he pressed his toned chest against her back and claimed her lips for his own.

Hisana moaned softly between their locked lips. His tongue had slipped into her mouth and caressed her own, while his fingers had gotten her nipples aroused. She brought her other hand up slowly to avoid triggering a pained reaction from her wound, and pinched one to feel the sharp sensation that ensued being driven down deep into her chest.

Her lover caught sight of it and helped further her pleasure. He used his hand to tug and pull on her other erect nipple, and sank the other hand lower. It fell between her legs, found the pink nub that was just starting to stir from beneath its hood, and then began to massage it with two fingers.

 _"Ahhnnn,"_ Hisana let slip out of her mouth. The fingers rolling her sensitive spot sent wave after wave of staggering ecstasy through her waist and legs. She fidgeted, stirring the water around her violently as her legs spread wider and her handjob became sloppy.

Ichigo used the opening to sink the two fingers inside. They slipped in easily with how wet she had gotten, her body accustomed to his touch. He hooked his fingers and began rubbing against her g-spot as fast as he could.

That did the trick. Hisana's body responded by locking up and leaving her unable to react besides crying out in an enraptured and lewd voice. Her hand clenched his shaft, squeezing it tight until it thrummed at the sensation and pre-cum dotted the tip.

With his erection painfully throbbing to sheathe itself inside of her, Ichigo pulled himself free and turned Hisana around. He fell in love with her dazed expression, her cheeks rosy and eyes glazed over from the sudden orgasm. He set her back against the wall nestled against the tub, lifted her legs out of the water, and then placed himself between them with the head of his erection penetrating the tight hole.

The insertion made her cling to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his back. The ramrod shaft forced apart the inner walls and set every nerve alight with pleasure, leaving her wordless. She was completely powerless, waiting for him to move.

Ichigo took measured thrusts, relishing the sensation of being inside of her without losing control. His thrusts gradually quickened, and stinging heat pooled at the base of his loins. Tempting as it was to come inside of her, after their first time together he resolved to never do so and risk everything before he defeated Aizen.

He took a final thrust and then pulled his hips back, letting his cloudy semen spray onto her stomach. The release softened his manhood and wiped away all the tension. He exhaled deeply and stared lovingly into her eyes. "I did need that. Thanks."

"Me too," Hisana said in the aftermath. In her lingering state of euphoria, she felt nothing but pleasure and a connection between them. "I love you, Ichigo."

He replied with a kiss, sharing that same sentiment.

 **[-o0o-]**

A figure stood in the woodlands where blood had been spilt, staring at the furrow carved into the ground by an attack of some kind.

His first thought was kido, but he revised it at seeing how it could be traced from the pattern of a swing. It was most likely an attack of some kind by a shikai-released Zanpakuto. That was interesting.

Soul Reapers rarely came out this far unless there was a known Hollow breach, and he had been subtle in slipping this one in. There was the chance that it was one of the patrols that occasionally passed through, but he'd checked the routes they were supposed to take a month prior. Perhaps there was a shift of some kind he was unaware of?

Curious to this new development, Aizen decided it warranted more investigation and disappeared from the woodlands in a Flash Step.


	11. Chapter 11

**Another chapter is here.**

 **Akutsu Junya: Lol! I certainly did. And that is why this is great.**

 **Lightningblade49: Yep.**

 **ahsanrox: read and see.**

 **Orange-Knight-in-the-Moonlight: Thank you.**

 **Guest: I will.**

 **JoTerry: Thanks for the praise.**

 **Rc1212: Of course.**

 **Enjoy!**

Ichigo watched impassively as Rukia and Renji swung a pair of wooden swords back and forth, over and over, with little alteration in the pattern.

They were at his hut in the woods, where he had first arrived in the past. He had repaired the damages it had sustained before his arrival, improving the structure overall with his knowledge of carpentry. Now Renji called it home for the time being, resolving to stay until he improved his swordsmanship and skills to become stronger.

Rukia was there too, panting. Her arms ached, being so slender and unused to doing something so strenuous for such a long time, and sweat left her clothes sticking to her skin while glistening on her forehead. She was the first of the pair to fall onto her knees

"My arms are throbbing," she whined. "I never knew something like this could be so tiring…."

"Hmph," Renji let slip as he continued his motions. "This is easy. You're only tired because you're weak."

Rukia pouted, insulted at his words. "Don't pretend you aren't tired too, Porky!"

Now it was Renji's turn to be insulted. He turned towards her and scowled. "I told you to stop calling me by that name! Do I look like a pig to you?"

"That enough," Ichigo said, before Rukia could. He was sitting against the wall of his home, with a branch that he was carving into the shape of another wooden sword. "It's about time for both of you to take a break. You can go and get your water canteens."

Rukia rose to her feet and ran inside to do just that, while Renji simply kept swinging his wooden sword.

"You should go rest too, Renji," Ichigo told him. "I can tell that your arms are aching nearly as much as hers from the way you're breathing, and how your motions have shifted."

"I need to get stronger faster," Renji insisted. "I can't waste time by resting or sitting around like _some_ lazy people."

Rukia, who was now standing at the window inside and drinking water from a canteen hollowed out from bamboo, stuck her tongue out him. "I was still faster than you when we jogged this morning, and I can at least call up my spiritual power when I need to. Just because you can swing a sword a little longer doesn't change that, Porky."

"Rukia, you have more control than he does over your spiritual power, but Renji has more stamina," Ichigo noted, checking over the branch in its current state. He rose to his feet and then pointed it at Renji. "Tell you what, if you land a single blow on me or dodge mine, then I'll help you out a bit with that."

The red-haired youth thought about it for a moment, and then gave Ichigo a skeptical glare. "That's not fair. You're a Soul Reaper, an adult, and well-rested. I wouldn't be able to touch you to begin with."

"Don't worry," Ichigo said. "I won't use all my strength and I won't move around all that much, or Flash Step. All you have to do is land a solid hit on me to win, or dodge the one hit I'll send your way… or you take your break now."

"If you're so tired that you can't beat Ichi-nii when he's not even being serious, you can always come inside, Porky," Rukia said, teasing him.

Renji growled through gritted teeth at that. "Hmm… fine! Let's do this!"

He drew his wooden sword back and charged at Ichigo, intending to close the distance and then strike at his foot. It was a cheap shot, but if it worked then it worked. However, his charge paused when Ichigo took three steps forward, bringing him into striking range sooner than anticipated. Renji stopped in his tracks and then swung the sword, only to miss by about a foot.

"Is that the best you can do?" Ichigo asked, sounding a bit bored as he yawned.

Incited by this, Renji came in with a flurry of attacks that were as fast and as hard as he could make them. Yet, he never touched Ichigo, who seemed move faster than his eyes could track. It wasn't even funny how clear the difference was between them.

Then the Soul Reaper decided to be decisive and swung up with the branch. It hit the wooden sword at a sweet spot that resulted in it bouncing back and out of Renji's hands with very little strength. Just like that, it was over. "And we're done."

Looking at his trembling hand, and unable to keep in his frustration anymore, Renji snapped. "You said you weren't going to Flash Step!"

"I didn't," Ichigo claimed in a nonchalant tone of voice. "That wasn't a Flash Step."

"Liar!" Renji shouted. "You were always moving too fast to see!"

"No, he wasn't," Rukia chimed in. "Ichi-nii only took a step or two before you swung, and I could see him fine. He wasn't moving fast, you were just flailing around."

"Basically," Ichigo started, "it took you too long to make a judgment in a fight—how to swing, where to move, etc. The time it took you to make those decisions was slower than it took me to make mine, so you couldn't keep up when I decided to move. It didn't help that you basically telegraphed everything because you're still thinking about it."

Renji scratched the back of his head in thought. It didn't seem that way to him, but Rukia was looking from an outsider's perspective compared to his. "Then what do I do?"

"You need to get used to swinging a sword around before you do anything else to build up muscle memory," Ichigo said, hoisting the half-carved branch on his shoulder. "That way when you see an opening, you'll go for it naturally and not think on it. That being said, if you work too hard and deny your body rest, your reactions get slower and you begin spending time thinking on what hurts and how to do this and that. That's why you needed to take a break."

"… Fine," Renji finally conceded. "I'll take a break."

Ichigo smiled. "Good."

 **[-o0o-]**

Hisana was in the middle of cooking when the door to her home slid open.

Ichigo had returned, carrying Rukia in her arms as she slept from the exertion of the day of practice. Renji was behind him, seemingly fine at a first glance. But, considering he nearly stumbled over his feet, he was likely in a similar position and barely able to stay awake.

"I thought you were going to go easy on them," Hisana said in a chiding tone as she rose to her feet. "They're exhausted to the point of sleeping!"

"Training is hard work," Ichigo claimed. "And all they did was swing around a sword to get used to it. If they apply for the Academy, it'll be a lot harder than this."

"Even if you say that, they're still growing children and you should go easier on them," Hisana insisted. Then she cringed when she caught the scent of their efforts wafting off of them. "They both need a bath before they can eat, but looking at them there's no telling that they would be able to remain awake in the tub."

 _"Nmmm…"_ Rukia let slip as her sister stirred her awake. She made it three steps when Ichigo lowered her to the ground before curling up there and going to sleep again.

Hisana sighed and woke Rukia up again. "I'll go and give Rukia a bath and change her. Keep an eye on the food, will you?"

"Sure." Ichigo blushed when Hisana leaned on her toes to give him a kiss on the cheek and then watched as the sisters disappeared into the bathroom and shut the door, leaving the boys to their thoughts. He then noticed Renji sitting down next to the fire and staring at him with a raised brow. "What?"

"Nothing," Renji said, turning his attention to the fire and the food cooking on top of it. The rice was looking mighty tasty, and his stomach growled at the thought of eating. The only reason he didn't was because he wanted to oblige the house rules and wait until he had bathed first. "I hope they don't take too long."

"The easiest way to push away the hunger is to think on something else," Ichigo suggested.

"I know that," the boy said. "I've been hungry more often than I've been full. There's just not a lot to talk about."

Ichigo begged to differ. "Sure there is, you just need to ask the first thing that pops into your mind."

Renji drummed his fingers against his thighs in thought. The way that Ichigo fought came to mind first. He wondered if there was ever a time that his mentor struggled in a fight. "Okay, what was the hardest fight you were ever in?"

"That… was another Soul Reaper," he admitted with a note of hesitation. "I've fought against a lot of Hollows, even ones known as being stronger than Captains in the 13 Court Guard Squads. But he was on an entirely different level…."

"Why were you fighting?" Renji asked. "Aren't all of you supposed to be on the same side?"

"No, he didn't think of anyone as an ally," Ichigo explained. "He killed people, civilians and his comrades, just because he thought it would make him stronger. It came down to a fight between me and him in the end, and I killed him at the cost of everyone I cared about."

"Oh… sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up," Renji said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"… You remind me of one of them," Ichigo confessed. "He was stubborn, and we'd tried killing one another at first, but we got along in the end. He was probably the person I considered my rival the most, and we both achieved Bankai at the same time for the sake of rescuing the same person."

"Ban… kai?" Renji's face scrunched up at that. "What's that?"

"It's the second stage of a Zanpakuto," Ichigo explained as he held up one finger. "The first stage is Shikai, and having access to it is a requirement for seated officers. It usually gives your sword the ability to do something like firing off a blast of spiritual power, or turning into a different weapon."

"Like what you did?"

Ichigo nodded and put up a second finger as he continued. "Bankai is the second release, and they can change a lot or have different effects depending on what they are. It's a requirement for Captain-level Soul Reapers to have them… well, there was one guy who didn't, but he was a monster in terms of strength. Anyway, even if they aren't Captains, all the strongest Soul Reapers have them. "

"Do you think I'll get one someday?" Renji asked.

Ichigo smiled at him, and for a moment he saw the older version of Renji in place of the younger boy now. "I'm positive, but you'll have to put in a lot of effort to master it once you do get it. Maybe even a decade."

Then again, Ichigo couldn't really talk on the subject of time. He initially got one with Urahara's device, and his father had to buy him about three months to master it. Compared to those who spent longer trying to attain it, he basically cheated every step of the way. Even then, those were supposedly the Old Man's doing rather than his true power.

The door to the bathroom opened up shortly after that, and the girls came out freshly bathed and dressed. Rukia was wide-eyed and awake now, while Hisana fussed over her hair for a moment before she sent her over to the fire. The older sister then turned to the red-haired boy.

"Your turn, Renji," Hisana said, holding up spare clothes and towels. "Do you need me to help you wash too?"

He shook his head vigorously. "I don't need someone helping me clean myself!"

"If you insist, but make sure to clean every inch of your body or I'll make you do it again," Hisana warned. "Dinner will be waiting for you."

Renji grumbled to himself as he went into the bathroom and shut the door behind him, while Rukia skipped over to Ichigo and sat down in his lap. When Hisana gave her a chiding glance, she stuck her tongue out in response. Ichigo, watching this exchange, silently sent Hisana a questioning look.

"It's nothing," she told him. "It's just a little talk between sisters. One that we will be having again soon enough, it seems."

He took her word for it and switched topics. "So, the festival is coming up soon, isn't it?"

"That's right," Hisana said. "I received another commission request, but with my arm in its current state, I'm not sure I'll be able to do them all very well. I don't want to cancel on it, but—"

Rukia cut in with an eager, "I'll help!"

"Hmm…." Hisana put her hand on her cheek and looked away. "Well, you can do the clay-shaping, but I'll take care of the painting. You need a lot of improvement there, I'm afraid."

Ichigo struggled to stifle his laughter. It seemed that even with Hisana in her life, Rukia's art skills still left a lot to be desired. While her older sister was rather talented in that front, it seemed as though she couldn't teach Rukia any better.

Rukia looked up at his face and pouted. "Ichi-nii, you're laughing at me!"

"No, no," he said, getting his voice in check. "Not you. It's just… I remembered something funny, that's all."

Rukia didn't buy it. She leapt off of his lap and went over to the backroom to silently brood.

"I feel guilty now," Ichigo said once the laughing stopped. "I really hope I didn't hurt her feelings too badly."

"She'll get over it by the time the food is done," Hisana assured him. Then she took a deep breath and her expression shifted, becoming gentler as her voice softened. "Are you sure you want to go?"

"Yeah," he said. "Why wouldn't I?"

"You always have this look in your eyes when see the fireworks, and you still won't tell me what's wrong," she pointed out. "I've already said I wasn't going to press, but it does pain me to see you like that."

"… They need it," Ichigo said after a pause. "We've all gone through a dramatic event, and the scars are still there. They need to have some fun, and what better place than a festival. Whatever discomfort I feel is worth it as long as they're happy."

Hisana moved over next to Ichigo and nestled against him, laying her head on his shoulder and resting her hand on top of his. "Ichigo, you really are sweet. We're all lucky to have you in our lives."

The words were soothing in their own way, and it brought a warm smile to Ichigo's face. Her presence had that effect on him, and he cherished it like he did no other. If he couldn't tell before, he could definitely tell now that it was love that he felt for her—for all its fragile nature wrought.

But he couldn't let it distract him from his mission in the long run.

He still needed a way to track down Aizen, preferably before the Visored's were turned. There were maybe forty or so years before that happened, if he had the time-table right. The sooner he dealt with the power-seeking madman, the sooner he could simply enjoy moments like these.

 **[-o0o-]**

Aizen slipped back into the Soul Society as easily as he had left it, undetected.

There were more than a few times now that he had to leave the solid and sturdy walls for the sake of experimentation. Being discrete required learning of patrol patterns and when the onmitsukido might have agents watching for any entrances. Now though, he found the lack of challenge boring, if efficient.

That was simply the way of things, he supposed. He was always overcoming challenges as they faced him, and now few could match him other than the Captains. And he was certain it wouldn't be long before he surpassed them.

What really disturbed him was that it would only be a matter of time before he hit the limitations of what he could accomplish in his current state. Limitations were the bane of both man and science, something that prevented progression from taking place. His own growth would soon be hampered, not because of his skill or effort or dedication, but because he had reached the limitations of what a Soul Reaper could accomplish.

That was a wall he had to break down, and he intended to do so by breaking down the boundaries between Soul Reapers and Hollows. That was why he had first visited Hueco Mundo, years ago. And it was why he had helped a Hollow slip into the Soul Society to possess a member of the Patrol Corps, as well as kill the rest of the team members associated with them.

It was rather easy to do so, but since his Zanpakuto's true power lied in deception that was to be expected as they were picked off one-by-one. If only the circumstances to be able to release it in front of others without suspicion weren't so few and far between when it came to the Captains, he could do so much more. Alas, he had to wait until he was in a better position to do so.

He was certain it wouldn't be long before he was a Lieutenant, and then a Captain. He had cultivated his reputation to get himself into the position as soon as possible, to accomplish his goal. So, for now, his primary concern was the fact that his Hollow had been killed by a Soul Reaper that far out.

He had ruled out kido, so that meant it had to have been a Shikai that was used. Your standard rank-and-file Soul Reapers wouldn't have access to that ability, and every Captain and Lieutenant was accounted for. That meant either a seated officer or potential ones was responsible, and if any of them were responsible for the Hollow's destruction then they would have filed a report.

Aizen was able to slip into the 9th division with ease, even late at night. Though he used kido to do so, he had already made an effort to ensure he had a number of the younger division members under the effects of his Zanpakuto. It was done under the pretense of a sparring match between the 5th and 9th divisions some time ago.

He had done so because of the fact that they controlled one aspect of the information flow within the Seireitei. All the Lieutenants filed their reports to this division, and they handled the newspaper as well. Through controlling them, he controlled a majority of what got out and could plan accordingly.

Among the reports he poured through were the deployment schedules for each division. It served as a means to guide and direct the numerous forces towards one another in the event that assistance was needed. There was no one scheduled to be in the Inuzuri district, the outskirts of which the Hollow had been slain.

Aizen found this to be curious, and decided to keep a closer eye on developments from that region. Where there was a mystery, there was always a chance that beneficial discoveries could be made from them. Plus, a new challenge never hurt to overcome.

He put away the files and then made his way back to the 5th division barracks.


	12. Chapter 12

**Another chapter is here.**

 **BlueShard20: Interesting idea, but something else comes in mind.**

 **Akutsu Junya: Thank you.**

 **Lightningblade49: Yes, make Aizen feel confused.**

 **ahsanrox: Thank you.**

 **Kurama Otsutsuki: Read and see.**

 **Bleackstriker94: Interesting is the right word.**

 **Winter Knight: Everyone opinion.**

 **BBWulf: Yes it is.**

 **Enjoy!**

The dark woodlands were empty for a moment, devoid of anything barring lush greenery as lanterns illuminated a nearby path that had festival-goers traveling along it towards the annual festival. Then there was a blink as Ichigo appeared. Hisana was in his arms, Rukia was in hers, and Renji was clinging to his back.

"I will never get used to that," Hisana said, setting foot on the soft grass with sandals on her feet. She let Rukia down and then dusted away at her kimono, running her hands along the fabric to straighten it out. It was a testament to her skill that she managed to keep it in near pristine condition after so long. "Are you kids okay?"

"That was fun," Rukia said, having found it exciting as always. The kimono that she wore was rather lovely, a darker shade of purple with white flowers patterned over it, replacing the old one she had outgrown. "I can't wait to learn how to do that."

"You're a slow learner," Renji said. Against his wishes, Hisana had gotten him a new kimono as well. It was red, with gold fish running across it as though swimming in a pond. "I can already do it."

"Nu-uh," Rukia said teasingly. "You tried to do it and passed out before you moved more than a few feet!"

Renji growled. Rukia stuck out her tongue. Ichigo stood between them before it could escalate further and then rustled both of their hair.

"That's enough you two," he said. "Tonight's a night of fun and celebration. Let's shelve the talk of training for now and enjoy ourselves until the fireworks."

The two consented silently as Hisana grabbed Rukia's hand and guided her towards the moving crowd walking along the path. Renji followed behind them with a frown on his face, resting his hands behind his head. That left Ichigo in the rear, whose own expression drooped now the others paid him no mind.

In truth, he wasn't looking forward to the fireworks since his Dad was always there. At least, his Dad from before he had come to Earth. Given everything that happened, and how he had lost everything prior to this, he couldn't help but think of his family whenever he saw the man.

Still, the kids and Hisana needed time to relax and his problems weren't theirs. He put his smile back on and followed them as they melded into the crowd walking down the stone-laid path, with lanterns strung up to illuminate the way with their soft light.

"Oh, they have a flower arrangement booth this time," Hisana said, pointing towards one of the displays. Flowers were woven around the wood in a decorative manner, the colors complimenting each other well. And, next to it, was a display of different kimonos that looked elegant and almost regal. "Let's go over there, Rukia."

Silence answered her, leaving her to look down to see that Rukia had disappeared somewhere. Hisana turned around and tried to peer through the crowd to find her, but her efforts were fruitless until Ichigo pointed to her in the right direction. Rukia was at one of the game booths, trying to toss a small otedama into a cup to win a prize.

Hisana sighed. "Why do I even bother trying anymore?"

"Just let her have her fun," Ichigo told her. "I'll go with you to the flower booth."

"If we let her out of our sight, I'm afraid we wouldn't find her for a day with this crowd," Hisana said. "At least when she was little she was manageable because we carried her. Now she's running around on her own and I can barely keep up…"

"I'll keep an eye on her," Renji said, watching as Rukia pouted when the bean bag hit the rim of a cup. "That way the two of you can do mushy stuff and all."

"I don't know," she said, pressing her lips thin. "You're about the same age, and if something happened—"

"Let him," Ichigo said, cutting into her doubts and setting a hand on her shoulder. "Renji's reliable, and he won't lose track of her."

Hisana nodded in resignation and pointed to where the shrine was. "Shout if there's any trouble and, once they get the fireworks set up, meet us there. Understand?"

He nodded and then walked off towards the younger girl.

 **[-o0o-]**

"That game was rigged," Rukia said, minutes later, as she stomped away from the otedama-toss game. Her allowance now dwindled by quite a bit, and she hadn't won a prize for her effort."I couldn't land any in the cups with the good prizes."

"That's because cups in the back are slimmer than the ones in the front," Renji said. "The rims are made so that the otedama catches on them easily. The way the game is set up makes it so you can only look at them from the front and not the sides, while the way they're positioned tricks your eyes into thinking otherwise."

"I knew it!" She turned around and looked ready to go and yell at the game vendor.

"Let it go," Renji said in a bored tone, holding her by the back of her collar. "You're just a kid, so any complaints you make are going to be ignored. Even if they weren't, I bet the guy can swap out the rigged ones with authentic ones without being caught. It's your own fault for being so careless with your kan."

"You wouldn't be so calm if it was your allowance that was taken," she grumbled, pulling herself free.

He crossed his arm and looked to the side. "There's nothing I want to play or buy here, so I'm just going to hold onto it."

"That's such a waste when there are so many things you can only do during the festival," Rukia pointed out. "After that, we go back to our district and can't do really do anything fun. The sweets, the toys, and the games are things that we only get to experience once a year."

Renji shrugged. "I don't care about fun. I just want to get this over with and get back to training."

"That's not right!" She grabbed his shoulders and shook him like a wet blanket meant to be hung on a line. "Ichi-nii told me you have to be a child when you can, because it'll be gone before you know it."

"Don't care," was all he said. "My childhood ended a long time ago."

That was the final straw for her. It was clear to Rukia she had to do something so that he didn't end up grumpy and serious all the time, like her sister when Ichigo wasn't around. Not that it was a bad thing, but she didn't think it was right for someone his age to be uptight all the time. Rukia promptly reached into his kimono and took his pouch, claiming it for herself.

"Hey!" Renji said. He would have complained further, but Rukia dragged him by his wrist with a surprising amount of strength and determination. "Where are you taking me?"

"I'm going to help you have fun," she told him, dragging him to a snack stall. "We'll start with eating something sweet!"

Any further complaints went unheard.

 **[-o0o-]**

"Stop worrying so much," Ichigo told Hisana, for the third time at that. "The kids are together, and they aren't getting into any trouble."

Hisana shook her head gently. "It's hard not to worry when you've spent so much time looking after her. Watching her come home a mess after playing in the dirt, seeing her messing around with dangerous tools, and then there was that matter with the monster you killed. If something happened to her then…."

He noticed she placed a hand on where her arm had been injured and she was trembling. He wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled in close. The trembling stopped. "Try not to think about it tonight."

"I'll try, but…." Her expression became crestfallen, her beautiful face made slightly less elegant by the sad smile. "It seemed like only the last time we were here when she used to drag us around from stall-to-stall, wanting to do everything together. Now she's going off on her own, pulling away from me, and planning to go to the Academy… they grow up so fast, don't they?"

"The fact that she has the chance to grow up, happy at that, is all is because of you," he said tenderly. "In fact, I imagine she'll be the spitting image of you."

That got a laugh out of her. "Maybe in appearance, since we are sisters after all. Most people wouldn't believe that given how we're as different as day and night."

"Maybe, but that's not a bad thing," he said. "She's as bright and energetic as the warm sun, while you're as calm and beautiful as the full moon on a starry night. It's a beautiful contrast."

Now a blush appeared on her face, and she leaned her head against his shoulder while they walked together. "Mmm… you're such a charmer."

He shrugged. "It's true."

"I suppose so." Hisana sighed. "Before you know it, she'll be an adult. Then she'll be getting married, and then have children on her own… and then I'll be an Aunt, I suppose."

Ichigo nodded. "Mm-hmm… but, given her duties, I don't think she'd have the time to be a mother or a wife at first. It's not really an issue for Soul Reapers because they're so long-lived under normal circumstances. It could be well over a few hundred years."

"That long?" She looked down to the ground in thought. "… I'll probably be an elderly woman by then, won't I?"

"You could always become a mother before her," he offered.

The statement made her blush, leaving her to shake her head and drive away the color flooding her face. "We both know that this isn't the time for that sort of talk."

"I know," he said. "It's just that, I'd been giving it some thought to this point. By the time they leave for the Academy, our living situation will have improved and we'll be able to relocate some place where children would be able to play safely."

"… It's a lovely thought," Hisana admitted. "I wouldn't mind have your children, Ichigo. But we should get through things day-by-day before we start dreaming of doing so. Besides, I've still got my hands full worrying about where the two in our care are right now."

 **[-o0o-]**

Renji wore a frown as he sat at the base of a tree off to the side, watching as Rukia played a game of kemari with a group of boys. She had dragged him from stall-to-stall, trying to show him a good time despite his constant insistence that he didn't want to, until they had nothing left to spend and came up here. The fact that she just inserted herself into the game didn't seem to bother the boys, but she had mentioned that she'd played nearly every time they came to the festival.

He closed his and sighed to himself. He couldn't help but think about how his friends would have loved being able to come here like this and enjoy themselves. He never got a chance to bring them to a festival so that they could enjoy themselves, but he could see it in his head how it would have been.

Kanta would've been trying his luck at the bean bag game, just like Rukia had been. Misobu would have liked to have joined in the game of kemari, since it gave him a reason to stretch his legs. And Tobi would have eaten himself sick on the sweets that they had, savoring the taste with every bite.

He saw himself watching over them and smiling, only for it to end as the reality of the situation set in. They were dead now, all because he wasn't able to defend them. That was why he wanted to keep training, to avoid feeling this way. He opened his eyes to find Rukia crouched down and holding her head up with her hands as she looked straight at him.

It caught him by surprise. "Gwah!"

"Hmm…" A low noise came from her as her forehead crinkled in concentration. "You're thinking about the others, aren't you?"

He schooled his expression now that the shock had passed. "What do you mean?"

"You had that same look in your eyes Ichi-nii gets sometimes," she explained. "Hisana-nee told me that it was because he lost people close to him, and I shouldn't bother him when he's like that."

He huffed. "Then why are you bothering me?"

"Because I miss them too," Rukia claimed.

"You didn't know them," he said, a bit sharply. It was a sore topic.

"No," she admitted, looking sadder at the accusation. "But I wanted to, and now I'll never get the chance. But would they have wanted you to not have fun because of them?"

He didn't answer her because he knew what the answer would be. They had always been urging him to take it easy and go play. But he couldn't because he had to look over them, and had to make sure they could get their hands on their next meal no matter what. Doing all of that now was only possible because they were gone, which only made fun bitter.

"Are you crying?" Rukia asked him.

He reached up to feel that tears had indeed been leaking down from the corner of his eyes, and there was a lump in throat. He sniffled and turned away from her, only to be suddenly enveloped in a hug by Rukia, once more catching him by surprise. "W-what are you doing?"

"Hisana-nee does this to cheer up Ichi-nii," she said.

"That's because they're into that mushy stuff," Renji argued. "It's gross."

Rukia agreed with the latter part. "Uh-huh, but when I feel sad she hugs me and it makes me feel better too. Doesn't this make you feel better?"

"N-no," he said half-heartedly. The touch was soft and warm. It actually made him feel better. Just a little, but it was there. Not that he would admit that. "All this is doing is taking up my personal space."

"Then should I stop?" Rukia asked.

He didn't want her to, but his pride wouldn't let him say that aloud. "Just do whatever you want, I don't care."

Apparently she took that as a cue to continue because she sat down next to him and hugged him until Ichigo and Hisana wandered over. Much to his embarrassment, Hisana had a smile stretching across her face at the sight. He spent the next ten minutes trying to convince her that this wasn't something mushy and she had done it on her own.

Then the fireworks went off.

 **[-o0o-]**

Ichigo stood off to the side, where Renji had been, once Hisana took the kids off to get a better view of the fireworks. He neglected to do so since they still brought back painful memories that he wanted to avoid. They were the ones who should be enjoying themselves right now, not him.

Of course, his intentions to remain alone were derailed when his head snapped up to see that Isshin Shiba was above him, perched lazily on the tree branch with a bottle gourd in his hand.

"Good reaction," the Soul Reaper said. "I thought I was being quiet when I slipped away for a drink, but you picked up on me pretty fast. Or was it that you felt my spiritual power?"

The look in his eyes made it clear that he picked up on that, so Ichigo told a half-truth rather than an outright lie. "I'm sensitive to it, but I don't have any myself. The fact that I live in the Inuzuri district means I have to notice when people are around me or I would have been mugged by now."

"I suppose that's true." He hopped down from his perch and offered him a drink. "Want a sip?"

Ichigo shook his head. "Long way back home and low alcohol tolerance. I'll probably be too drunk to walk straight and get the others home with just a sip."

"That's a shame." Isshin took a swig and breathed out a satisfied sigh before changing the topic. "Those two kids, that came out with that young lady you were with, they have a good bit of spiritual power in them for their age."

"You noticed?"

"There are so few people this far out with the potential that they stick out like candles in the night," Issin said. It seemed his senses were sharper than Ichigo thought. If he hadn't still had the cloth to block his spiritual energy then it was very likely his own cover would have been blown prematurely. "You going to send them to the Academy in a few years, once they've matured?"

"They've already decided to go on their own," Ichigo said. "It's a better life than they'll have in the district, and they won't be wasting their potential. If I had half as much potential as Rukia and Renji did, I'd have gone myself."

"Rukia and Renji," he said. "I'll remember their names. I have a feeling they'll be in the fast-track class when they do eventually make it there."

He supposed it would be better that way, if Isshin looked after them while they were there. It was better than risking Aizen getting his hooks into them early on. "…Thanks."

"No problem," he said, looking towards the next set of fireworks being prepared. It looked like the sister and her brother were getting into it again. "If only those brats could get it together long enough for me to enjoy my drink."

"It's just how they show affection," Ichigo said.

"Maybe, but I'd still better stop them before their affection messes with the show," Isshin said. "Nice talking with you."

"Same," Ichigo said. Then he watched as Isshin used a Flash Step to close the distance and bopped the two of them over the head. Strangely, he felt better now that they had talked for the first time in years.

Sure, he wasn't the father he knew. But it was still nice to know that he was looking out for him. He imagined that his own father, in his timeline, would have done the same.

At peace now, he walked over to where the others were enjoying the display and joined in with his family of this time.


	13. Chapter 13

**Another chapter is here!**

 **Lightningblade49: Yes it is.**

 **JoTerry: hahahaha.**

 **Orange-Knight-in-the-Moonlight: Thank you.**

 **norris321: Thanks.**

 **clw123cat: Read and see.**

 **BlueShard20: Keep on reading.**

 **Shigure Toshiro: Thank you.**

 **Enjoy!**

The sunlight speared through the breaks in the canopy of the woodlands surrounding the Inuzuri district, dotting the twig and leaf-laden ground. Small birds chirped in the air from the thicket of branches, only to be silenced as someone landed within their midst. They flew off, scattering feathers in their wake.

Renji Abarai was crouched on top of the thick tree limb, scouring his surroundings for any sign of his opponent. He had grown in the years since the festival, becoming taller and strengthening his muscles until they were taut beneath the hakama and uwagi he wore. There was a wooden sword on his back that had seen much use, riddled with dings and depressions from practice.

His eyes focused on a nearby bush that rustled. He reached for his sword as the rustling grew in intensity. Then he moved, his figure disappearing from view as he used a Flash Step to position himself next to the bush with the sword raised.

Before he could strike, Rukia's head popped out of the foliage with small leaves and twigs in her otherwise pristine black hair. There was a bandana covering her eyes like a blindfold, yet she moved her head as though to look around. It was supposedly part of her training, depriving herself of one of her major senses to learn how to sense spiritual energy and thus control her own.

Renji tried it once. It didn't end well. "What are you doing in there?"

"Ichi-nii tossed me in here after I found him the last time." Rukia lifted the bandana covering her eyes to reveal the majestic shade of purple they were dyed. "I'm trying to sense him again."

"Can't you just do that thing he taught you?" Renji asked, gesturing with his hand. "You know the one where you make ribbons pop out of nowhere?"

"Spirit ribbons, and no I can't." She stepped out of the bush and began to pick all the leaves off. "I can only materialize ribbons for what I can sense and narrow it down to one in specific. He's hiding his spiritual power from my senses entirely."

"Fantastic." He sighed. "I swear, he's—"

The words cut off when he saw the reflection in Rukia's eyes, even before she could say it. He swung his sword backwards, only for his wrist to be caught in the iron grip of their merciless mentor, whose own wooden sword went straight for his head. Renji was reasonably sure it would hurt.

 **THUNK!** There was a loud, hollow sound as the blade met with Rukia's own. She held it above his head, sparing him the concussion as she strained her arms.

He breathed a little easier, only to immediately regret it when Ichigo kicked out. It was like a war hammer smashed into Renji's stomach and sent him went flying backwards. Rukia was caught up in the abrupt flight as well, and the pair only came to a crashing halt several dozen feet away, tangled in a heap in another bush.

Ichigo chuckled. "Come on, you two have to do better than that before I'll give you permission to leave out."

They tried. They both moved with a Flash Step to flank him on the right and left. Renji brought his wooden sword around the front, while Rukia tried to take his legs from under him from behind.

Ichigo pulled out a shorter wooden sword from his sash, carved to resemble a tanto. He used the shorter blade to parry Renji's, while he used the longer one to block Rukia's entirely. He then slammed the butt of tanto into Renji's nose to stagger him back a step and spun around, dropping the tanto in order to grab the collar of his uwagi and then slamming him into his surrogate daughter.

"We can call it quits anytime you want," Ichigo told them as he took three steps back. "Hisana probably has a nice hot meal waiting for us, and a hot bath to boot."

"Screw that!" Renji yelled, getting to his feet and trying to thrust his blade into Ichigo's sternum. The skilled Soul Reaper naturally vanished in a Flash Step and disappeared out of their view. Renji frowned as he wiped away the blood dripping down from his nose. "Can you tell where he went?"

Rukia nodded and rose to her feet after him. "I can sense what direction he went in now… he's playing with us, leaving clues and then taking them away when we get close."

"I don't see why you're complaining," Renji said, spitting out the rest of the blood that trickled down his throat. "He's going easy on you because your sister threatened him about leaving bruises on you, being a girl and all. I'm the one getting socked."

Rukia scowled at him. It was true to an extent, Ichigo didn't hit her as hard as he did Renji. That didn't mean he wouldn't toss her around like a ragdoll either. "Shut up and come on, Porky!"

"Stop calling me that!" he yelled, following after her as she headed towards where she sensed the Soul Reaper was lurking.

 **[-o0o-]**

Ichigo watched as the pair departed to face what appeared to be him in the distance. He still had the spirit-energy blocking cloak wrapped around him beneath his clothing, to hide his energy from Rukia's growing perception. What they were actually chasing after was really just a duplicate.

It was basically a puppet made of condensing spirit particles with his spirit energy, and then giving them definition and manipulating them. The Old Man had taught him how to do it over the years, along with other aspects of his heritage from that side of things. In this way, they got training and he got to test his Quincy abilities—not that they knew it was a clone.

He was going easy on them, to an extent. The terms for them being granted permission to leave for the Academy had been that they just had to land a decent hit on his spirit clone. In turn, the clone wouldn't leave them with anything more crippling than a sore bodies and an even sorer sense of pride.

But that was expected. He had been in battle after battle in his own timeline, and coming to the past hadn't dulled his skills because he'd kept up his training. He would have killed them ten times over by now in a real fight. They were just at the starting line as far as he was concerned, but it was only to that point he could teach them—how to move and how to swing a sword.

He used a Flash Step to keep up with them as they pressed forward towards the spirit clone, though he caught them whispering something to one another. He couldn't hear them at that range. When they were just out of view of the clone, he dispersed it by allowing the spirit particles to unravel.

The pair broke through the clearing, only to find nothing waiting for them. Naturally, this frustrated them both.

"I thought you said he was here!" Renji said heatedly towards Rukia. "I don't see him, do you?"

Rukia pouted. She took the doubts towards her ability rather harshly, and ended up poking him in the chest. "He was! You were just too slow so he managed to get away!"

Ichigo shook his head as they continued to bicker like they were children. That was a death sentence on the battlefield. That merited a lesson they wouldn't forget.

He gathered spirit particles and mixed in his own spirit energy to create a new clone that darted out to greet them. It swept Rukia off her feet and tossed her into Renji, who caught her at the expense of his balance. The clone moved in for a punishing strike—

"Now!" Renji yelled, twisting his body as he fell so that Rukia was facing the clone.

She thrust her hands out, revealing a spiraling mass of spirit energy gathered in her palms. The glowing blue sphere pulsed and vibrated softly, illuminating her face. The expression she wore made it clear the strain of maintaining it was intense, but she grinned as it fired.

Ichigo could have made the clone dodge it. But they weren't likely to do better than that. Plus, he was genuinely surprised she had gotten to the point that she could weaponize her spirit energy in such a manner. He'd let them have it.

The orb slammed into the duplicate and ruptured in a blue flare of light. The glare of it forced their eyes closed, so they didn't recognize the fact that it had disrupted the particles he molded in his image. Ichigo hastily performed a Flash Step to appear in its place as their eyes opened.

"Oh come on!" Rukia said, disappointment lacing her tone. Her legs buckled when she tried to stand, necessitating that she lean against Renji for support. "I put everything I had into that and your clothes aren't even singed!"

"You didn't tell me you could do that," Ichigo said, a half-smile on his face. "It was clever, I'll give you that. Not exactly Kido, but packing as much of your energy into it and then hitting me with it all at once. But you can barely stand, so if this had been a real battle then you would be dead weight now."

"If this was a real battle, we would have been dead a hundred times over," Renji pointed out, sounding unhappy by the prospect as he did so. It was as clear a sign as any that he still didn't appreciate being weaker than Ichigo, but he still had room to grow. "It got the job done, and that's what matters."

"I suppose it did." He sighed. "A deal is a deal. You two can leave out for the Academy in the morning with my blessing…."

He watched half-amused as Rukia cheered, while Renji looked determined at the prospect of growing stronger. It sounded all well and good, and he was happy for them, but he wasn't sure that Hisana would be so pleased at losing her sister for months at a time. It wasn't likely she would visit as much either given how far it was between here and the Academy.

He wasn't looking forward to that conversation as they made their way back to their home.

 **[-o0o-]**

As predicted, Hisana was not happy with the circumstances. Not because her younger sister was leaving, but because she saw that Rukia was dirty and disheveled from her near point-blank blast, which had thrown dust and dirt into her hair and clothes. Having exhausted herself earlier, Rukia was too tired to really resist as her sister hovered over her after taking a bath.

"Hisana-nee, I can do it on my own!" Rukia argued impotently. They were in the backroom, where a lantern burned next to a mirror as Hiasna fussed over her hair like she was still a little girl. The two of them honestly looked akin to twins at this point.

The primary difference was that Hisana was still a head taller than her sister, and carried herself in a more feminine manner. It was something she had been trying to teach Rukia to do. Alas, it wasn't as successful as she hoped.

"Yes, yes, you want to be your own woman." She ran the teeth of the comb through her sister's hair to straighten it out, despite her protests. "Though I question how you're going to do that when you can't even keep yourself clean."

"It's not like being clean and everything is important when you're fighting," Rukia claimed.

"I don't want you fighting at all," Hisana pointedly reminded her, before she took a deep breath and set down the comb. "There, that will do."

"So, you're not going to try and tell me not to go?" asked the younger sister, turning to face the older one. "Because I have a bunch of reason already thought up."

Hisana shook her head. "Every child has to grow up at some point. Every parent, or sister in my case, has to accept that. To be frank, the fact that you have the potential to do something of note is more than I could have ever hoped for myself… just remember to visit whenever you can."

"Of course I will," Rukia said. "No matter what happens, it's still my home. I'm going to visit."

"Mm-hmm, I'll hold you to your word." Hisana pulled her sister's head close to her chest, embracing her fondly. "I'm proud of you, Rukia, despite all of the mishaps to this point."

Rukia silently returned her embrace, having no need for words to express her gratitude for everything that Hisana had done for her to this point.

 **[-o0o-]**

The pale moon hung above a cliff where Renji sat down. He was facing the three graves he had erected for his fallen friends. Years had passed, and he had to replace the posts with their names more than once, but he never once forgot about his reason for wanting strength.

He looked down at the wooden sword that was on his lap. It would be replaced soon enough, with a real sword. The marks on it was proof of his efforts, along with the calluses on his hands from wielding it for years on end. He rose to his feet and planted the point of the wooden blade into the ground, embedding more than half its length into the ground as a tribute.

"I thought I'd find you here," said his mentor's voice from behind him. Renji looked over his shoulder to see that Ichigo had snuck up on him again. "You should be resting."

"I won't be coming back here for some time," Renji told him. "I thought I would see them one last time before then. It wouldn't be too much to ask that you look after them while I'm gone, would it?"

Ichigo nodded his head. "I'll make sure the graves remain unharmed. Just the same, keep an eye out on yourself. There are more dangers involved with being a Soul Reaper than just Hollows, and not all Hollows were as simple to deal with as that one was."

"I'll keep that in mind," he said, turning to Ichigo as a breeze blew through the night. It rustled the leaves of the nearby trees. Then he bent knee and took a pose of supplication, with his head low on the ground towards Ichigo. "Thank you for everything until now."

"That's not necessary," Ichigo told him.

"It is!" Renji insisted. "You could have left me to die, but instead you avenged my friends and saved me. You never had to take me in all those years ago, but instead you gave me the closest thing to family that I had after they died. And never once did you ask for anything in return."

He raised his head and stared at Ichigo, determination in his eyes. "You are easily the greatest person I've met. That's why I want the strength to surpass you. Not just for the friends I failed, but so that one day I can stand where you're standing. So that I can protect and guide others to finding strength of their own."

Ichigo took the confession with prolonged silence, letting the wind continue to whistle uninterrupted. Only once it died did he speak again. "Okay then. Do your best to try and surpass me."

Renji heard no mockery in his voice when he said that, but rather a sense of pride. Ichigo honestly believed Renji could do it one day. He'd prove him right, as a sign of respect between the two of them.

 **[-o0o-]**

The next morning, before the sun had risen, Ichigo stood on edge of the district with the leaving pair. They were just off the road that led them towards the north, with both Renji and Rukia all set to leave. They had packs slung over their shoulders, with food meant to last them the trip and spare clothes.

"This is where we'll part ways," Ichigo told them. "You should be able to get to their on your own without any problems. Just keep your wits about you along the way and you'll make it to the Gatekeeper. Make it clear you want to test into the Academy and they should have a Soul Reaper arrive to show you towards where the examination will be held."

"Do you know what the exam will be about?" Renji asked, albeit belatedly.

Ichigo shook his head. "My own circumstances were unique, so I never went. Because of that, you have to also remember that if anyone asks about previous training—"

"We learned by ourselves," Rukia finished for him. "We'll do well enough to test in, but not too well. That way we don't draw suspicion."

"No one would doubt it if we say we learned how to use a sword to survive, given the district's location." Renji assured him. "As long as we don't go around playing chase the devil with Flash Steps then it should be fine."

"I don't want you to hold back," he clarified. "Do your best, but just make it seem like this is all natural for you. You'll likely end up in the accelerated program and graduate earlier that way. If you don't manage to test in this year, you can always come back…."

He trailed off as a thought crossed his mind, and he gave them a warning. "If you run across a Soul Reaper named Aizen, don't look at his sword. Don't spend more time with him than you have to, and don't accompany him anywhere alone if you can."

"Understood," Renji stated, giving him a final bow. "We'll be going now."

"Bye, Ichi-nii." Rukia told him, waving with a smile on her face. "Next time you see us, we'll be just like you!"

They both vanished with that, disappearing with a series of Flash Steps heading towards the north. As they slowly left his sensing range, Ichigo couldn't help but wonder if this was what his own father felt seeing his daughters off to school for the first time. Did he teach them enough? Would they make allies and friends like he did? Was there anything he could have done better?

Only time would tell, he supposed.


	14. Chapter 14

**Another chapter is here!**

 **Lightningblade49: That is true.**

 **PredatorPuck: lol**

 **Mejciu: Read and see.**

 **Shigure Toshiro: Thank you.**

 **ahsanrox: I'm sure Ichigo will have something to do to keep himself busy.**

 **BlueShard20: Who knows.**

 **norris321: Thank you.**

 **Please Read my stuff: Thanks.**

 **clw123cat: Thanks.**

 **Guest: Thank you.**

 **Higgins: Thanks.**

 **Love Psycho: read on and see.**

 **donovan123456789: Pretty strong.**

 **The King in White: Thanks for the comment.**

 **Beloved Daughter: Thank you.**

 **Jetflash: hahaha**

 **Enjoy!**

"Hurry up!" Rukia yelled as she sprinted through the giant gate, the light of the morning sun spilling over the white-laden stone and buildings that composed the Court of the Pure Souls. It was a strong contrast to their neighborhood, but neither had time to really take it in. "We're going to be late for the entrance exam!"

"You're the one who slept too long!" Renji claimed, following behind her. The giant that guarded gate told them nonchalantly that the exam was about to begin in about ten-minutes and if they missed it they would have to wait another month. Screw that. "We don't even know where we're going. We were supposed to wait for an escort!"

"There's no time!" she exclaimed. "If the exams are about to begin, they'll just tell us to come back later! Besides, we just need to find the biggest gathering of non-Soul Reapers, right?"

"Maybe, but how are we going to do that?" The Seireitei had been massive even from the outside, so they could only guess where they were going without some kind of guide. It was then that Renji caught the grin forming on her face and understood. "You wouldn't!"

Rukia ran off into an alley and closed her eyes. She expanded her senses, feeling for the souls of others around her now that they were isolated within the Seireitei. They condensed and meshed until they formed ribbons, loitering around her in thin strips that seemed to disappear into nothingness three feet away from her.

"What are you doing?" Renji hissed, looking around to make sure that they weren't seen. "He told you that was a high-level technique and you shouldn't do it before we're taught."

"Yeah, but I need to find where to go and even if I can't sense out anyone's specific spirit power, I can search for where the largest group are and—" She grabbed a bundle of them and focused her awareness in that direction, leaving the others to vanish as she mapped out the distance between the ribbons and their owners. "Found them!"

"Did you hear something?" said a voice close-by, around the corner. When Rukia focused in that direction the pair of ribbons that appeared was red. They were Soul Reapers.

 _"Crap!"_ Renji whispered. If they were caught outside of the area where the entrance exam was being held, they could be kicked out before they got started or imprisoned. He grabbed Rukia by her collar and ended up using Flash Step to get away, reaching the back of one of the buildings that made up the alley and out of their line-of-sight.

 _"And you're getting on me?"_ Rukia whispered, once the Soul Reaper pair brushed it off as their imagination and left. There was a petulant and teasing smile on her face. _"Hypocrite."_

He glowered at her, creases forming into a frown above his brow. "Whose fault is it that I had to do that?"

"Keep telling yourself that." Rukia freed herself of his grip and pointed in a direction. "We're going there. Not too far. Five minutes if we hurry."

The red-haired young man relaxed his face as his anger at her dissipated while they ran. He followed Rukia until they arrived at a certain building, nestled behind a gate. It was a large, ivory structure with a gate bearing the academy's emblem on the walls outside of it. And the opened doors, revealing a packed courtyard inside of it, were closing.

"Wait for us!" Rukia called out to the one shutting it, before they could completely close it.

"Hurry up!" barked the dark-robe clad man as he opened the door wider for them. When they crossed the gate, he turned his nose up at them. "Being punctual is an important quality of being a Soul Reaper. If you can't even do that you've got no business even trying."

Renji gritted his teeth behind his closed lips to avoid swearing at the man and instead turned his focus on those in front of him. It was a big crowd of people of all ages and genders, dressed in different clothing. You could tell the ones who came from the outer districts from their clothes being torn, ragged, or well-worn. You could see the more privileged ones from how they carried themselves and were well-kempt.

A few academy students dressed in red and blue went around asking for information, mostly names and the district they came from given what he could hear. After getting an answer they were given a ticket of some kind. Was it for determining the order they tested in? One of the students approached the pair from the Inuzuri district.

"Name and District?" the girl student asked him.

"Renji Abarai," he said. "South Rukongai's 78th District, Inuzuri."

The student nodded her head and handed him a ticket. It ranked him as 613th in line. He figured it would take all day, considering they hadn't even started yet. She then turned to Rukia. "And you?"

Rukia's brows creased in thought and she tapped her cheek with her finger out of habit. "Huh… I don't think I actually have a last name."

"We can use your district as your last name," said the student. "Should I?"

Rukia shook her head. "I'd really rather not have my last name translate into Howling Dog. My sister would likely get on me for it not being feminine enough."

"Just use _his_ last name," Renji said, figuring she would get the point. "I doubt he'll mind given you're practically family."

"Yeah, that'll work!" She nodded. "Rukia Kurosaki. South Rukongai's 78th District, Inuzuri."

"Okay." The information was scribbled down and Rukia was given a ticket. It was the number right after his. "Good luck on both of your exams."

"Question," Rukia said, before she could leave. "Do you know how the exams are done?"

"When your ticket is called, you'll be brought inside and made to touch a device. It'll forcibly draw out your spiritual power and determine if you have enough. If you don't have enough spiritual power, you'll be dismissed from this testing. If you do have enough, you'll be allowed further inside until the first round of testing is complete. Then you'll be led to temporary housing to rest until the second round of testing tomorrow. Do well on those and you qualify for entrance."

"Thanks," Rukia said, allowing the student to continue her duty without further questioning. She then turned to Renji. "So, the hard part doesn't start until tomorrow then. We can be sure we'll pass, but I wonder how many here will?"

"Hmm…." He crossed his arms and looked around. "I can't tell. Most of the people here have some power, but we don't know the base requirement needed. If we weren't as capable as we were, even we wouldn't be sure."

"Well, there's no point in thinking too hard on it." Rukia shrugged and took a seat where she was. "We may as well settle in until we get the call."

Renji couldn't find it in him to argue with her. He plopped down onto the ground next to her and waited with as much patience as he could muster….

 **[-o0o-]**

Hisana stared blankly at the ceiling of her bathroom from inside of the bathtub, paying no mind as the water turned her skin pink from the warmth soaking into it. It felt so quiet in her home now, even if she could hear the more boisterous residents of the district through the walls. While she had gotten used to it when she had more pressing concerns on her mind, she entertained the thought of moving to get away from it now that her sister was far away.

With the kids gone, the expenses for food and clothing would drop. If she saved for a few years, then maybe she could afford to relocate to a closer district. At the very least, it would put her in contact with other women around her age and she could perhaps find a hobby to fill in the void.

She got out of the bath and dried herself with a towel, running it softly against her skin, before dressing for the night. Things around the home felt empty with her little sister as a constant fixture. Rukia had been gone for almost a week now, and was likely undergoing the testing. There weren't many public means of communicating from such a great distance available this far out, so she couldn't contact her to see how it went.

Once she was ready to go to bed, she entered into the main room. To her mild surprise, Ichigo was already there. He hadn't visited during the night as often as he did before he took guardianship of Renji, and he had been working on a major project a few districts away after he had seen them off.

"Welcome back," she told him. "What brings you by so late?"

"I came to check up on how you were doing," he said, stretching in front of the hearth. The coals were still smoldering and leaking tepid warmth into the air. "How have you been since the kids left?"

"I've been… a bit lonely, I suppose." She cast her gaze towards where her sister's futon was nestled in the corner. It was folded up after going without use for the last week. "I knew it would be like this when the time came, but I miss her."

"I sort of feel the same way about Renji," he told her as she moved over to his side and took a seat next to him, folding her legs and leaning her head against his shoulder. "I think we did well, all things considered. They can take care of themselves, and they're literate. I'm sure they'll do fine."

Hisana agreed with a slight sigh. Even though both of the kids had been less than eager to have schooling thrown into their lives, they took to it well. That was more than what most of the people in the district were capable of. She looked back once more, over to the unused futon. "Ichigo?"

He met her eyes with his. "Hm?"

"I know you stopped coming over as much because there wasn't enough space with Renji here." She pulled herself off his shoulder and grasped his hands with hers. They were rough and calloused from both work and sword-training. "But, since they're gone and we are in a relationship …would you move in with me?"

He didn't answer with words. Instead, he pulled her in close and pressed his lips to hers. The message carried as Hisana accepted his affection by reaching around his waist and holding him dearly while they kissed.

 **[-o0o-]**

By the next morning, the number of eligible candidates had dropped down from what had to have been several hundred people to less than two-hundred. The duo from Inuzuri were woken along with the others and offered a complimentary breakfast before being brought back to the courtyard. That was where they had essentially set-up an obstacle course overnight.

The challenge was simple. It was an assessment of their physical prowess above all else, likely to rule out anyone who couldn't get through it within a reasonable amount of time, Rukia figured.

She was going in the next group, after Renji. He had done well for the most part. He managed to get through all of the obstacles rather quickly, but she had her concerns on how well he did at the part where they pelted him with small balls of spiritual power.

It was similar to what she had done to catch Ichi-nii off-guard, only with far less power as to not hurt anymore permanently. Considering the strikes he weathered from Ichi-nii's wooden sword and fists when they trained, they may as well have been pelting him with water balloons. It was just that she suspected they were supposed to dodge them instead, and he didn't make any effort of doing so.

What if he lost points for every hit or something? Despite the constant distance he tried to keep from her, she still considered him her friend after all these years. After watching everything he'd went through, it would hurt her to see him not get in because he didn't do well. Not that she would tell him that.

When her turn came, Rukia flitted across the part of the courtyard that had been turned into shooting range using more than her eyes as her guide. Unlike Renji, she couldn't simply power through the barrage without slowing down. But she didn't need to.

Ichi-nii had taught her to feel the spiritual power surrounding her, and the pressure that could be exerted. Thus, she could feel it somewhat—the sensation of spiritual power being condensed, the bursting expulsion that fired it towards her, the intensity increasing as they grew closer to her. It made it easy enough to dodge, to weave in and out of the shots before they could touch her.

That included one that was specifically being curved towards her with advanced control, just so slightly but still enough. Did one of them want to make it a personal goal to hit her? It didn't matter. She let just a little of her power leak through her feet to move a smidge faster, screwing up the timing, so the shot hit behind her without exposing her full talent.

Rukia completed the course without being touched, which was an accomplishment in itself as the test administrator noted. She cheered as she approached Renji. "See Porky, that's how you're supposed to do it."

"Stop calling me that." Renji huffed as he dusted himself off. Even though the shots had little-to-no power, because he had simply taken them head-on they had singed his clothing a bit. "And what, you want me to praise you or something?"

"Of course not," she said, smiling smugly. "I just want you to acknowledge my superiority to you in every way."

Renji couldn't help but sigh. "Fine. You were amazing. I'm in complete awe at how you managed to avoid being hit with very slow and weak balls. Happy?"

"Not when you say it like that." Rukia's cheeks swelled as she pouted. She wanted sincere acknowledgement. "You have to mean it."

He smiled wryly, enjoying her agitation, and began to rustle her hair. "How about this? Better?"

"Stop treating me like a kid!" she whined, pushing him away and turning to hide the blush of embarrassment on her cheeks as others laughed at her in good humor.

 **[-o0o-]**

Aizen Sousuke looked down from a classroom inside of the building at the examination as it continued. He wasn't alone. There were others from different divisions there as well; trusted members who were expected to give an unbiased report of the potential recruits. Those who were exceptional would be scouted at a later date if their training panned out well.

Aizen was still the only Lieutenant there. This was something relegated to lower-ranked seated officers. He had come of his own will instead, using it as an opportunity to find others he could use in his goal of breaking the boundaries limiting his power… then he would usurp God.

However, he was not expecting an actual Captain to show up. In specific, it was the leader of the 10th Division, Isshin Shiba. He was the head of a branch of one of the Great Noble Houses, and a powerful combatant in his own right as well. It was how he got his position, despite being an inattentive seated officer, after the incident that killed his predecessor.

The man strode into the room in a lazy manner, arms thrown behind the back of his head. He stood at the window, remaining seemingly ignorant of the others seated officers around him. It was Aizen who spoke first, grabbing his attention.

"Captain Shiba," he said. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Ah… Lieutenant Sousuke, wasn't it?" He nodded in confirmation. "I thought I would personally come out to inspect the new crop of students. There are some things a man has to see with his own eyes, after all."

Aizen presumed that meant he left his own subordinates to deal with the paper work while he came to simply get away. It wouldn't be the first time, from what he learned. He had cultivated his personality so that others were likely to be open when they had a matter to discuss, making him seem trustworthy. Because of that, gossip easily reached his ears.

"Huh," Isshin muttered. "So those two made it after all? Good, I was hoping to see them."

He followed the Captain's line-of-sight to the red-haired young man and the black-haired young woman next to him. He'd observed them and marked them as targets of interests prior. The girl was clearly sensing the shots as they came and moved accordingly, while the young man had endurance that had been built up beyond the average examinees.

Aizen had went through the testing roster and picked out their names. Nothing about them was suspicious, and none of the names were tied to nobles or anyone important. Any training they were likely to have had must've been self-taught in that case.

He turned to the Captain. "Do you know them?"

"I met their guardian when they were just kids, years ago," he explained. "They had a good amount of spiritual power even then, and I liked the guy looking after them. We talked every so often during the subsequent festivals, after I told him they should consider signing up when they get older. It was the last festival that I noticed they reached a point where they would likely pass the initial part of the entrance exam with flying colors and made the suggestion."

"Hmm." It was another point of interest that they came from the same district he had lost track of his Hollow in. If they possessed a measure of inherit power at such a young age, as the Captain was implying, then they would have been fodder for it. The fact that they survived meant the Hollow was killed before it got to them, but it was likely they had seen something just the same—he'd ask them at a later date.

"How well did they do?" Isshin asked, before chuckling a bit as he watched the girl get flustered at her companion's prodding. They couldn't hear them, but it must've been something funny considering the people they were near were laughing as well. "Where do you think they'll end up?"

Aizen adjusted his glasses. "I can say that, unless extenuating circumstances arise, they'll both be in the advanced-class. They have among the best time on the obstacle course, and while the initial testing of spiritual power doesn't show the results in a numerical value, it does flag individuals that go above a certain threshold. I'd wager they crossed it. In addition, compared to the others, they actually seem to have a handle on regulating how much they output."

Isshin let out a low whistle. "They'll probably complete the curriculum early if they've got that much of the basics out of the way."

It was likely, Aizen would admit. They had potential, and it was likely that every single person there had taken note of it. It wouldn't hurt to make a good impression upon them early. They could be a boon, depending on where they ended up.

"About this guardian you mentioned?" Aizen asked, as an afterthought. "Did he possess any spiritual power?"

Isshin shook his head. "He said he was sensitive to spiritual power, enough to sense mine at that. But he didn't have any spiritual power. Why?"

"No particular reason," he said. "Just curious… that's all."


	15. Chapter 15

**Another chapter is up!**

 **Lightningblade49: No doubt.**

 **PredatorPuck: Correct.**

 **BlueShard20: We will see.**

 **Shiguro Toshiro: Of course.**

 **Neapolittan: who knows.**

 **.5: Thank you.**

 **The King in White: Keep on reading and you will have the answer.**

 **Glasses: Lol**

 **Beloved Daughter: hahaha**

 **DasChinButton: Thank you.**

 **LuxEterna1: Calling Aizen is easier. Sousuke sound like a mouthful.**

 **sagar hussain: Thanks.**

 **BukkakeNoJutsu: Thank you.**

 **Enjoy!**

Rukia yawned as she walked towards where the male students were stationed for the duration of their studies early in the morning. They were naturally stationed away from the females on the other side of the campus, and there were certain consequences for entering the opposite gender's dorm according to the manuals listing the duties, responsibilities, and laws they were expected to uphold as both students and Soul Reapers upon graduation. It had bored her to read through the entire thing over a week, but she had been one of the few who did.

Not that it stopped her from checking on her friend. While they were making strides in their education a month in, Renji already had strikes against him for waking up and arriving at class late. It was ironic considering that he gotten on her about almost being late for the entrance examination, but she didn't want him to get bumped from the advanced class because of it.

She looked around to see that no one was around to spot her, used a Flash Step to get to the back of the building, jumped into the air, and then stood there at Renji's window to see that he was still in his futon. She also noted the alarm clock they had given him was conveniently destroyed, bits and pieces scattered from being smashed against the wall. Just like she thought it would be. Rukia couldn't help but sigh as she knocked on his window.

Renji snored softly, mumbled, and twisted in the futon until he was supine and his torso was laid bare before her. The training with Ichi-nii had left him with a chiseled core, to the delight of some of the girls in her dorm when they had the boys run laps around the Seireitei for their physical training. It wasn't anything she hadn't seen before, but maybe it was just that she had known him too long to think of him in that same sense.

When it was clear he wouldn't get up that way, Rukia opened the window and crept into his room. It afforded her a better view than outside the window did. He had books and papers scattered around and on top of the desk, some of them on topics they hadn't even gotten to yet. Curious as she was about that, Rukia focused on the task at hand.

That was waking Renji up by nudging him with her foot. "Get up. You're going to be late again."

He blinked slowly to see that Rukia was standing on his futon, closed his eyes to go back to sleep, and then snap them open again. He sat up in a hurry and scowled. "What are you doing here?"

"Waking you up," she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You broke your alarm clock."

He looked over to where she pointed, saw the broken bits and pieces of the clock, and rubbed his eyes. "Crap, I'm going to have to get a new one now."

She crossed her arms and tilted her head, staring at the bags beneath his eyes. "Why have you been sleeping in so late anyway?"

He gestured to the books scattered all over the desk. "You try studying your ass off through six years of materials. I want to get out into the field as soon as possible."

"You shouldn't be in such a rush," Rukia told him. "We're already in the advanced class. Isn't that enough?"

"No," he said bluntly as he rose to his feet. "Sure, we've got a head-start in some parts of learning. But Ichigo himself told us he never went to the Academy and learned through an unorthodox manner. If I'm ever going to surpass him, I have to match him in everything he knows and excel in everything that he doesn't. To do that, I have to be the best I can."

"Hard to do if you get kicked out for being tardy all the time," Rukia pointed out. "Hurry up and get dressed."

"I will when you're out of my room." He pointed towards the window. Before she climbed out of it, he added, "…Thanks for waking me up. I do appreciate it."

"Anytime, Porky!" She jumped down before he could tell her not to call him that again, laughing.

 **[-o0o-]**

It was after Noon when Aizen finished teaching the first in many future optional courses in Calligraphy that year. The students in attendance had been mostly nobles and a disproportionate number of them were female. His teaching connected and endeared him to some of the student body and reinforced the image he was projecting. That wasn't to say that he didn't personally enjoy it somewhat.

Calligraphy was an art and the skills to properly utilize it had to be carefully honed. Everything was a factor in the creation of something elegant, yet profound. From the strength behind the brush, to the fluidity of the strokes, and the steady and firm grip one had—it all had formed into a masterpiece.

It was when he was leaving the classroom himself that he spotted the two most prominent subjects of interests to him at present, Renji Abarai and Rukia Kurosaki, walking together and talking. It had been a month since they had arrived and he had been keeping tabs on them. He delayed meeting them so far because his Captain had been piling more work on his shoulders and other matters, but now was as good a time as any.

He walked up to the pair. "Excuse me. Can I have a moment of your time?"

They both came to a stop and stared at him—specifically the emblem marking him as a Lieutenant. The ranks in the different factions the students could enter upon completion were covered in the introductory class before they were given their curriculum schedule. They followed procedure when addressing a superior and stood at attention.

"What can we do for you"—the Abarai boy's eyes focused on the emblem—"5th Division Lieutenant?"

"My name is Sousuke Aizen." He recognized that they tensed at his name. "You both seem tense. Is there something wrong?"

The Kurosaki girl shook her head. "No, no. It's just that… well, this is the first time we've met someone of your ranking."

Aizen doubted that was the reason. More questions for later, but he still had to create a connection with them for now. "Aren't you familiar with Captain Shiba? He spoke highly of you both and said he met with your guardian during the festival that his family hosts."

The Kurosaki girl looked baffled at the revelation. "That older guy was a Captain?"

"I can imagine he doesn't look the part, but he's a capable individual. That being said, have either of you given thought to which division you were going to enter upon graduation? I've been looking into promising students and noticed that you've shown excellent Kido skills while Abarai is skilled in Zanjutsu, even if the style is unorthodox."

"I was thinking of going to the Kido Corps," she admitted.

"Any combat division will do for me," the Abarai boy said. "Hollows have to be dealt with, and that's the best way to do it."

"That's great," Aizen said. "Hollows are a constant threat, so we'll need as many capable people as possible. But from the sounds of it, you've encountered one before?"

"Once, in the Rukongai," he said. "It killed a bunch of my friends before it ran off."

"As unfortunate as their deaths were, it was quite lucky that you survived without injury," he said. "Even injuries from can cause problems. In fact, I believe that a few of our researchers have found some were capable of infecting Pluses from their injuries and then turning them into Hollows almost immediately. Could you imagine how horrifying that would be in a district so far away from the protection of our forces?"

That seemed to be a trigger topic judging from how the Kurosaki girl looked down and the Abarai boy clenched his teeth. He bowed his head to avoid showing his agitation and decided to end the conversation. "If you'll forgive us, we need to be going."

There were no further answers to be gained from _asking_ , so he permitted them to leave. Then he waited until they were out of the hall and view before he hid himself behind a kido technique that shrouded his body from sight, carefully and subtly enough that the Kurosaki girl couldn't detect him. Then he used a Flash Step to get close again and listen to their whispering.

 _"—seemed nice enough,"_ the Kurosaki girl muttered to her companion. _"I don't see why Ichi-nii wanted us to avoid him."_

 _"Let's just do like he said and steer clear of that guy,"_ he hissed. _"I didn't like what he said about Hollows that could infect others either… your sister suffered from that same kind of injury, didn't she?"_

 _"Ichi-nii cured her,"_ she said. _"It's been years and she's healed up just fine. There's no way she'll turn into one of them."_

Aizen frowned behind his veil, having picked up the gist of the information. They had encountered the Hollow and their guardian supposedly destroyed it. That meant he had to be a Soul Reaper, which confirmed that they were trained as he suspected. But what was this about him supposedly curing someone from the hollowfication?

That should have been impossible… but what if this person was the key to breaking down the boundaries? This could be the opportunity he was looking for to complete his tool needed to ascend to the throne of the Soul King. And then there was the woman who had supposedly been cured. She would be valuable as well.

After a moment of thought, he decided against interrogating these two further for more information. It would be more efficient to get answers from the sources when the opportunity presented itself. In fact, Tousen should have vacation time coming up.

It should be simple for him to retrieve them both….

 **[-o0o-]**

Ichigo stood atop the ruined remains of his inner world, panting from exertion. Entire buildings had been hollowed out and leveled in a battle fought between himself and the Old Man. The manifestation of his Quincy powers had unleashed itself in earnest now.

"This is the final test, Ichigo," he told him, wreathed in a pale light that expanded from his frame in the form of wings and a halo. "This is the Quincy: Vollständig, a technique that holds dominance over all things spiritual. In a world made of spirit particles, one who can utilize it is a _god_."

Ichigo silently bore witness as the debris that made up his inner world slowly broke down and was pulled into the light-constructed wings, made subservient to it and increasing its density. It was even pulling at his body, threatening to tear him apart and turn him into nothing but a mass of particles to be used by him. Only his own spiritual pressure counteracted it, his strength on par with it.

"What you're feeling is the effect simulated as it would be in the Soul Society," the Old Man continued. "If you utilized it, you would continuously draw in spiritual particles from everything. Weaker souls would be absorbed without pause, their minds destroyed and forever formless. Even if you were to try and contain it, an entire district would still be consumed. "

Then he couldn't use it unless the circumstances were dire enough to call for it. But every little bit of power was necessary. "How do I use it?"

"The training you've done over these years has prepared you for this technique, but you need to feel its weight and power for yourself." He crafted a broadsword from the spirit particles under his command and brandished it. Then he was gone.

Ichigo tensed as he abruptly felt the spiritual pressure reappear behind him in a blink, scattered plumes of white fluttering behind the Old Man as his raised sword came crashing down towards Ichigo's neck from behind. He spun to intercept it, but on touch the blade exploded with a flare of force and light that jettisoned him backwards.

He gripped the air and braced his legs to stop himself before he took up a fighting stance. Then he was greeted to the sight of a dozen copies of the Old Man, all surrounding him while wreathed in wings of light and a halo above their heads. He unleashed the Getsuga Tenshou in a circle around him, cleaving through them all.

They were swept away without mercy by his power. He then located the sole survivor and charged up another one, as strong as he could manage. **"GETSUGA TENSHOU!"**

The strike was a pure wave of pale blue spiritual power, barreling through the air and capable of cutting a mountain in half. It slammed into the Old Man and swallowed his figure, completely obscuring him from view within the sea of blue… and then his strongest strike curled into itself, spiraling into the broadsword as the Old Man stood there in his winged-state and halo crown.

The sword drank in his power and then returned it as a pure white beam. It was similar to Nel's ability to swallow a Cero and then fire it back at twice the power. He used a Flash Step to get out of the line of fire and watched as it continued to surge further than his eyes could see. He had the vague suspicion that if they had been in the real Soul Society that blast would continue unimpeded until it smashed into the protective barrier encompassing the Seireitei.

And then it would plow through it.

"Remember, you are a Quincy, Ichigo." The Old Man hovered in front of him. "Wrest control from me and take hold of the world around you if you wish to match my might."

It was easier said than done. Taking control of loose particles was easy now. But taking the essence of an opponent was all but impossible—at least short of what the Old Man was doing.

Ichigo still tried. He pulled in the world around him bit-by-bit, trying to wreathed himself in power similar to that on display. He strained his body and mind as he did so, slowly becoming enshrouded, when his concentration snapped and it dissipated.

Seeing that no further progress could be made, the Old Man let his form fade away and slowly reconstructed Ichigo's inner world to its normal state, effectively ending the simulation. "We'll call it a night, Ichigo."

"No!" Ichigo, now standing on top of a building, held his head as it pounded like a drum. "I have to learn it."

"There's no need to rush." The Old Man drifted down until he was in front of him. "You have done well, but this technique isn't something that can be mastered in so short a time. There is no aid to assist you as there was when you achieved Bankai."

"We still haven't stopped Aizen," Ichigo stated. "It won't over until he's dead."

"You've traveled far into the past, before he could reach his apex. As you are now, it's likely you could easily defeat him. Which bring me to another point: You possess the abilities of a Soul Reaper, a Hollow, and a Quincy."

Ichigo met his gaze. "And?"

"You are collectively an entity that embodies all aspects of the Balance of Souls—Purification, Corruption, and Destruction," he said. "Are you really content to live a life as a mere Carpenter?"

"What else am I supposed to do?" Ichigo asked. "The job is a job to keep everyone fed."

"You are a protector, Ichigo," he started. "What will you protect once Aizen has been killed? Will you really let all that power go to waste by settling into the life you have now? Will you really be satisfied with such a life of normalcy?"

"So you're suggesting, what? That I go join the other Soul Reapers?" he asked. "Honestly, I didn't expect that from you."

"I'm just suggesting that you give your future prospects some thought," the Old Man said. "Remember, you will likely live for thousands of years and be one of the most powerful beings in any world. Power will always attract its equal, and adversity will follow in that time. It will be a long life, and the role you choose will determine the burden you bear—whether that is a carpenter or a God."

Ichigo frowned at the thought. What _would_ he do after killing Aizen? He knew he wanted a life with Hisana, and she had expressed the thought of moving. He could do what Zaraki did and just march in to challenge a Captain for their position, but then he'd have to kill someone he wasn't sure deserved it and explain to his father why he hid his power. Maybe he could say he was a late bloomer… nah, it'd never work.

"You should return your body and get some rest," the Old Man suggested. "We can try again in a few days."

Reluctantly, he agreed and bid the Old Man farewell. Then he returned his consciousness to his body and immediately felt the warm, nubile body of his lover nestled at his side. He opened his eyes to see that her bare, porcelain skin was pressed against his firm body beneath the futon they shared.

Her chest rose and fell as she slept comfortably, a small smile on her face. It seemed she was having a pleasant dream. He leaned down to kiss her when he felt it—a spiritual power approaching larger than any he'd felt besides his father since coming back in time. It was suppressed, but not enough that it didn't register to his senses.

His range had, surprisingly, only improved since he was training Rukia. It made for an interesting game of chase the devil and was practical. As for the signature of the energy, it didn't feel overly familiar, but had had felt it before….

Ah, it was when he had fought Grimmjow and as Aizen was escaping the Soul Society the first time. He had been severely injured both times, and the name escaped him since they never fought before. What he did know was that he was one of Aizen's subordinates.

Why was he this far out? Why he was coming towards them? He could think of a few reasons, and none of them were good. It looked like he would have to deal with this now.

Ichigo slipped out of bed, leaving Hisana to shift around at the loss of his warmth. He covered her tenderly with the cover of the futon and she settled down. Then he set out to kill a man while she dreamed pleasantly.


	16. Chapter 16

**Another chapter is here!**

 **BlueShard20: I will. Thank you.**

 **Rakaan: Read and see**

 **PredatorPuck: Yes it is.**

 **Eddie Drood: lol**

 **Lightningblade49: Your logic is so sounded.**

 **donovan123456789: Read and see.**

 **Irubus: Ok.**

 **sagar hussain: Thank you.**

 **Shigure Toshiro: Read and see.**

 **ahsanrox: yep.**

 **owieeey: Thanks.**

 **selias: who knows.**

 **The King in White: heh.**

 **xstyle3135: Yes, he is.**

 **Beloved Daughter: My my.**

 **michelous: Heh.**

 **ARSLOTHES: Thank you.**

 **Freed-sama: who knows.**

 **Greyjedi449t: Thank you.**

 **Enjoy!**

Justice was a simple concept at its roots. The wicked were punished by the righteous, and peace was founded as a result. So why? Why was such an ideal, as simple and concise as it was, so hard to attain?

Tousen had taken up the sword of a fallen friend in order to pursue justice, or rather the ideal of justice that his friend had. He idolized her, standing in her shadow as she pursued that belief fervently, with a passion unmatched. And yet, rather than dying on the battlefield in the attempt to achieve that noble ideal, she had been cut down in her home by a man she called her husband, all because she had scolded him.

Her husband had killed not only her, but a comrade as well over a petty argument. Yet, when he asked why the man was not punished for the murder of two fellow students, he was removed without an answer. How was it that a blind man was the only one who could see so clearly how far those who called themselves the law had fallen if they wouldn't punish someone so unrepentant?

Aizen had bluntly told him that power was the reason. That man had more power and status, thus his actions were overlooked with nothing but a slap on the wrist and stern warning in private. It was a pittance compared to the worth of his friend's life and proved there was no justice in the world as it was. She had simply died a worthless death.

So then, if he obtained enough power, would that be enough to align the world back on the path of true justice? If he became strong enough to enforce her ideal of justice—the true justice as it should be—then would that be enough to prevent tragedies from occurring again? Or would it just give him the power to burn down the world that took his friend away and let him rebuild something anew on top of the ashes?

It was that line of thinking that allowed him to reach equilibrium with Suzumushi, the spirit dwelling inside of it yearning for vengeance against the man who stole its original wielder's life. Aizen had made it possible for them to do so. And, as the man's tainted blood spilled over the earth, the cry of his zanpakuto had been one of celebration.

He knew nothing about the targets, barring that one was a female who ran a pottery shop and the other held a possibly high-level of spiritual power capable of killing the Hollow that had been let loose for the sake of experimentation. The fact he hid it from a current Captain spoke of training. But, at the same time, that Captain was one who fell into the position for his combat prowess more than anything else and had a reputation for being irresponsible in terms of paperwork.

Tousen had a much higher ability to sense spiritual power and beings, born of necessity for a blind man to function at the level he did now. It was part of the reason that he was a 5th Seated Officer, though he only held that position because the time wasn't right to advance further. It would be soon though. His Bankai assured him that much.

As he neared the ramshackle district that was drowning slowly in its own lawlessness, much like the innards of the Seireitei was falling to decaying unnoticed to most on the inside, he found himself rolling the Hollow Bait between his fingers. Since most Hollows avoided entering the Soul Society for fear of the Soul Reapers or the Koutotsu, the only ones who would react to it and breach with a Garganta would be those that awaited Aizen's orders after he had demonstrated the ability to tame them and make them stronger through experimentation.

The beasts had been given instructions, but they were ravenous to their core and would likely consume all the pluses around before departing. Though he doubted those who lived this far out would count as innocent, their blood would be shed to pave a way to power he could use to lead the world to his vision of peace. Thus it was warranted.

His trek came to a halt when he sensed a great spiritual power entering into his range about a second before he was on top of him. Tousen unsheathed his blade in a reverse grip with one hand and used Suzumushi to protect him as a larger sword came around to try and cut him in half, while the other arm came up to block his opponent's wrist before the shorter blade could cut into his jugular. Both hands occupied, he was left open as his opponent's foot thrust out like a spear and caught him in the chest.

He went back, skidding along the air as he gripped the particles beneath his feet to bring himself to a stop. His off-hand rested on his chest, where the kick had nearly broken his ribcage. They were bruised at the very least. It seemed Aizen had been right to be wary of this one and provide the Hollows for support.

Realizing this wouldn't be an easy fight, Tousen snapped the Hollow Bait and fully unsheathed his sword.

 **[-o0o-]**

Ichigo broke down the surrounding grass into their individual particles and refashioned them into an appropriate garment for combat as he approached the Soul Reaper that bordered on the edges of his spiritual sense. The black uniform melded with white stripes, dual natures present on the front. He was neither one nor the other, but both at the same time.

He came to a stop a good distance away, facing his opponent whose sword was still held in a defensive position. The thought of questioning him about Aizen came to mind, but Ichigo dismissed it entirely. There was little reason to think that he would betray the man, and Ichigo wanted to settle this quickly.

He noticed that the Soul Reaper was different from the time he'd seen him above Karakura. He wore a white mask that concealed the lower half of his face and a pair of goggles concealed the upper-half, hiding his appearance entirely. The hair reminded him of one of the Vizards, but perhaps that was unintentional.

Then the man snapped what looked to be Hollow Bait and a Garganta opened behind him, like a mouth yawning wide in the fabric of space. From it came four Hollows, humanoid in shape but larger by about twice.

 _"Mmm…."_ The largest of the group rumbled as it took in the air. _"Smells good all around… so much to eat…. It's enough to make my mouth water."_

 _"Hihihihi,"_ sounded the thinnest, crouching down on all fours next to the blind Soul Reaper. _"A little nibble can't hurt right? We're allowed, right?"_

He nodded. "You can devour his arms and legs, but I need him alive."

Ichigo slowly reached for his swords as they approached with the blessing of the Soul Reaper, lunging for him with thick hands and the mouths within their masks opened wide to partake in devouring what they could. They were all Adjuchas-class, at best. In a group they posed a threat to some of the Captains, maybe, but against him they weren't a bother at all.

His heavier blade came around and intercepted the cienna-colored Hollow that was closest, cleaving its arm in twain as he stepped forward and pointed with the smaller blade, focusing his power and unleashing a _Getsuga Tensho_. Power unleashed in the form of a wave obliterated it and those around him, leaving them as nothing more than dust in the wind. He then turned to see the Soul Reaper raising his blade.

 **"Cry, Suzumushi,"** he ordered, and a high-pitch noise rang from the blade. The sound wave was narrowed and concentrated on Ichigo, seeking to rob him of his consciousness. It failed as it slammed into a wall of spiritual energy he erected, blocking the power guiding it.

Ichigo's arms tensed to move when he felt a lingering presence behind him and stabbed his larger blade backward. It met with resistance and he glanced over his shoulder to see the smallest of the Hollows had returned. He frowned at the thought that it would be more resilient than he expected and, consequently, the others would likely be as well.

It let loose a wet, gurgling chuckle as it smiled, despite being impaled on the thick blade of his zanpakuto. _"Surprised?"_ it asked. _"We—"_

Ichigo swung his arm and the blade up, cutting it in half to silence it and then twisted his body to avoid a Cero that was fired through the Hollow to get to him. He looked to see the others had recovered, as he feared, and the Soul Reaper leading them was nowhere in sight. It looked as though he was obscuring both his spiritual power and body with Kido.

 _"Hihihihihi, don't ignore us!"_ tittered one of the Hollows as its fist glowed crimson. Balas were fired in rapid succession, similar to a machine gun, meant to batter him down to size and cripple him. Joining it was a living rope, woven out of scarlet light and wrapped in thunder, a Kido spell.

He severed the rope with Zangetsu and allowed the explosion to wreathe him, using the smoke of it to obscure his movements until he was at the Hollow's back. Then he swung his larger sword again, this time as hard as he could. The air itself became a weapon tore it pieces, the pressure of the swing shredding it. He flickered over to the others and summarily did the same before expanding his senses and searching for the Soul Reaper.

 _There_ , Ichigo thought as he picked up his presence behind whatever technique he utilized. He was molding his spiritual power, converting it into another spell. It didn't matter. Ichigo swung the blade and released a crescent wave of spiritual power that bulldozed the area, forcing him to abandon the spell.

Not a second later, the shrill and bone-jarring cry of Hollows filled the air and Ichigo found himself being rushed by them again. His first thought was High-Speed Regeneration, but he revised it when he remembered you could overwhelm regeneration of that class by destroying the head and organs. He had turned them into dust several times, but they still came back.

Ichigo flipped his grip on the shorter blade into reverse, plunged the blade into the teal-colored Hollow attacking him, and unleashed a _Getsuga Tensho_ that obliterated it while catching the ones behind it. His focus never left them, even as he used a Flash Step to avoid the six yellow petals of light that closed in to trap him in a binding Kido. He could feel it, how the pieces were breaking down into abnormal spiritual particles and contaminating their surrounding ones before using them to rebuild themselves.

It didn't have an effect on any spirit particles that were already defined, like the trees or the grass. It was only the loose particles in the atmosphere were at risk, and only until it reformed. But with more experimentation it would likely become the very same substance that turned the Vizards into what they were.

 _No choice then,_ Ichigo thought. He had wanted to avoid using his Quincy abilities so he didn't tip his hand or upset the balance of souls too much. But it seemed that wasn't an option anymore, was it? He gathered spiritual particles from without, shaping it into a wrist-mounted crossbow.

The Hollow he aimed at chuckled at the small weapon being pointed at it. _"What do you think that—"_

He fired it without a word, punching through its mask. The light in its eyes dimmed, growing paler and paler, until they winked out entirely. Its body evaporated with a dark tint as its essence was obliterated by the nature of the Quincy. Even the corrupted particles were purged, so it wouldn't be coming back.

The others stood in shock as they realized what happened. Had they been bold in thinking they could easily allow themselves be killed over and over, knowing they could reform? If that was the case then fear was the only appropriate response in the face of true death, a cessation of existence brought about by a power meant to kill their kind.

Ichigo didn't give them time to react, or reason, or cry for mercy. He had seen the end of his own timeline by their kind, and there was no other way of resolving this. He simply used a Flash Step to get in range and put the spirit bolts through their heads without a second thought, resolving the matter permanently.

 **[-o0o-]**

Tousen sensed that the Hollows had been obliterated, all traces of their essence gone. There was no coming back for them. He could tell right then and there that letting this man live would be a mistake to their plans further on, so he wouldn't make another attempt at capturing him.

Aizen would simply have to make due with a corpse.

The abnormal Soul Reaper moved, closing in no doubt. Hiding behind a concealing spell alone was useless at this point. So he dropped it and instead resorted to a chain of Kido spells.

The first was the _Sekienton_ spell. The thick, red smoke that billowed forth was laced with his spiritual power, though slowly diffusing. He used it to mask his presence further as he held his hand up and closed his fist, using the _Sajou Sabaku_ to create chains that bound his opponent's arms and upper-body. Last was the _Sho_ spell, basic in principle but capable of sending him back down to the ground after he had ascended to the air to reach Tousen.

The moment his bound opponent hit the ground, the 5th Seated Officer unleashed his second Shikai technique wordlessly. His sword vibrated, and the moonlight reflecting off of it leaving a luminous trail behind that solidified as he drew a half-circle. The sword's own spiritual energy was transmuted into steel blades numerous enough that they could wipe out a small army.

The silver rain of death was unleashed without a second thought. It sounded like thunder smashing into the earth dozens of times over. A plume of dust and dirt rose up, as if reaching for the moon hanging high in the night sky.

But he wasn't done. Not while he could still feel his opponent's presence. **"Bankai! Suzumushi Tsuishiki: Enma Kourogi!"**

The ring attached to his cross guard spun against his palm and then released a larger ring of spiritual energy that swelled and split and grew until it formed a perimeter. The rings then bled a black substance, liquid-abyss, and melded to create a dome devoid of light. Enshrouded in the void, with no way for his opponent to sense him, Tousen immediately tried to cut off his head…

The blade didn't so much as break the surface of his skin. But, to his senses, he could see that a sort of spiritual power was weaving itself throughout his body, mapping out his cardiovascular system. What was it?

"Is that all?" said the man, his first words for the night. Then he flaunted his Spiritual Pressure, and it floored Tousen as though he was hit by the weight of an ocean dropping down on him. It staggered him for seconds and, in those seconds his opponent broke the chains, spun around with his shorter blade, and opened Tousen up from hip to shoulder.

It was enough to break his concentration and his hard-earned Bankai. Tousen fell onto his knees with blood seeping down from his chest. His senses were distorted and he clutched at the wound that continued to bleed. Then he felt the gathering of spiritual energy at the point of the shorter blade, outlined by its own distinct spiritual power.

There was no doubt it would be a kill-shot, and his mind signaled him to evade at the speed of thought. But the body wasn't able to follow through, and Tousen realized he was going to die. His justice would die with him, here and now.

And there was nothing he could do about.

 _"Grggh—!"_ He opened his mouth to curse and damn his opponent without reservation. But only blood and spit that had bubbled up in his throat came out, slipping through the holes in his mask and dribbling down.

Then there was nothing as the power surged out, and everything disappeared in a flash of luminous blue.

 **[-o0o-]**

 _This wasn't a battle_ , Ichigo thought as what remained of his opponent smoldered. The shot had taken off the entire top-half of his body. _It was nothing but a drawn-out execution._

Even without the _Final Getsuga Tensho_ , he had thoroughly trounced the man. Only the Hollows posed a problem, and that was something his Quincy nature had taken care of. Was it that his opponent wasn't at the same level he had been over a hundred years from now? If the same went for Aizen, then….

Maybe the Old Man had been right after all. The question after he'd adjusted to the time was never whether or not he _could_ beat Aizen, but how to _reach_ him to do it beforehand. He didn't want to cut through the entire Seireitei to do so, though he could if he had to. But things were different now.

He knew the madman wouldn't stop looking into the death of someone he'd been allied with, let alone those Hollows. It wouldn't be long now, if that was the case. Soon… soon he could end it all….

Only the question of what came next still lingered in his mind. What was he to do with all of this power? Would he settle down and let it go to waste?

 _"This is giving me a headache,"_ he mumbled to himself. It was telling that he found the first serious fight outside of his Inner World to be less of a pain. He took a deep breath and filed it away for later. Right now, he had to hide the evidence of the battle.

Then he would get ready for the final encounter.


	17. Chapter 17

**Another chapter is here!**

 **BlueShard20: Heh.**

 **Rakaan: He didn't.**

 **Greyjedi449t: Thank you.**

 **MugetsuIchigo: Thanks.**

 **Seggy: Thank you.**

 **Harbinger of Kaos: Who knows.**

 **ahsanrox: Yep.**

 **PredatorPuck: lol.**

 **Lightingblade49: Yeah.**

 **Shao Leafwaler: Thank you.**

 **norris321: Thank you.**

 **Shigure Toshiro: Of course.**

 **timewastin: Read and see.**

 **GreenAlien123: Thanks.**

 **Blackstriker94: Yeah it is.**

 **batosaix: Read and see.**

 **Beloved Daughter: Who knows.**

 **the unsung antihero: lol.**

 **sagar hussain: thanks.**

 **TazaTerminals: haha.**

 **sabery: heh.**

 **AnimeA55Kicker: Read and see.**

 **Guest: Thanks.**

 **Guest: Thank you.**

 **Enjoy!**

He was falling, deeper and deeper into the darkness. It was vast, expansive, and it had no end in sight. How was he supposed to find what he was looking for in such an abyss?

But deep within, after what felt likes hours and hours, he could see a light at the end. There was a realm there, a forest of white bamboo that seemed to have a crimson sky lingering above. It was there, so close. He just had to—

"Renji!" Rukia yelled, shattering his concentration. He snapped back to reality, black rings under his eyes while sitting lotus position with his Asauchi laying across his lap. "About time, I'd been calling you for two minutes."

 _"Why?"_ he hissed, anger bubbling in his throat. He had been sitting shirtless in his hakama, atop his futon the entire night. "I was close! I could almost enter my Inner World! I could have reached my zanpakuto's spirit if you hadn't pulled me out so soon!"

Rukia pointed to the clock on his desk, once again revealing that he was near late for class. Then she added, "You're not supposed even be performing Jinzen without knowing your zanpakuto's name. If it lashed out at you, you wouldn't be able to defend yourself. "

"I would have been fine," Renji grumbled as he stood to get dressed. They had just recently gotten their Asauchi now that the basics of swordsmanship had been covered with practice swords. Ichigo had already shown him the meditation and explained the process, so there was no point in hesitating.

"Also, I have this." Rukia reached into her kosode and pulled out an envelope to hand to him. "It's from Ichi-nii."

He pulled his shitagi over his torso before he grabbed the envelope and turned it around. "There's no return address."

Rukia shrugged from her position at the end of his futon. "If I had to guess, he ran to a closer district and then slipped it into the mailbox."

Renji opened it and read the letter. It was simple, telling them that both of the adults in their life had been busy with their own things. There was some talk of Hisana wanting to move, in order to be closer so they could visit more often, but that wouldn't happen for a few years at best. Then Ichigo warned them about Aizen again and told them to burn the letter. He followed the latter instruction and burned the letter to ashes using a candle before turning back to Rukia.

"He's really got something against that Aizen guy, doesn't he?" Rukia asked. "I mean the tone of the letter goes from normal to ominous with how he put it."

"Whatever it is, I think it's one way," Renji stated as he finished getting dressed. "Otherwise he'd know by your last name that you were related to him somewhat. Either way, it's got nothing to do with us besides keeping our heads low."

"I guess." Rukia rose to her feet and went over to his window, so they weren't seen leaving together. It would be complicated if she was caught leaving a boy's dorm room in the middle of the morning. "See you outside the Academy?"

Renji grunted and watched as she leapt out of the window. He grabbed his sword when he finished… and then tensed when he heard a faint whisper on the fringes of his hearing. He was tempted to simply brush it off, but hesitant to do so. It occupied his thoughts as he left the dorm and ventured to the Academy, where he found several graduated Soul Reapers wandering the grounds and asking questions.

One of them was conversing with Rukia, who shook her head. Renji walked up to her after they departed. "What was that about?"

"A Seated Officer went missing, supposedly." She shrugged. "It was one of the ones who came to visit the grounds not too long ago, when the various divisions came around and explained their functions to help others decide where they were going."

"They must be grasping at straws to ask around like this," Renji noted. "I guess they don't have some kind of spiritual power scanner that covers the entire Soul Society, otherwise Ichigo would have been found by now. Is it possible he went to the World of the Living and ran into a Hollow?"

"Don't know, and it's not something we need to worry about." Rukia turned around to face him and stood on her toes. "So, I believe there's a break coming up next month. Do you want to go back home and show Ichi-nii what we've learned?"

"Might as well," Renji figured. He held up his sword and stared at it in thought. "If there's anyone capable of helping me with this faster, I guess it would be him. Plus, I'm feeling a little eager to test how far I've come since we've left."

"He's still going to cream you," Rukia pointed out. "It's only been so long. No one gets that much stronger in such a short time."

 **[-o0o-]**

Ichigo held off a sneeze that seemed to crop up as he sawed lumber for a new fence he and Tetsu had been commissioned to build. It had been a few days since he'd dealt with Aizen's henchmen, and so far there had been no sign of retaliation. That worried him, quite frankly.

Retaliation would eventually come, he was sure. Aizen wouldn't tolerate any unknown hindrances when it came to his plans, and he wouldn't use such a weak and feeble attack force this time. The problem was that he wasn't sure _when_ the man would act, and that rankled him more than anything.

He had been on high-alert every waking moment since then, stretching his mind and senses to their limit. The lack of sleep left dark rings around his eyes, worsened by worry and concern as he realized things were more complicated than he expected. He was prepared to do whatever it took in order to kill Aizen, but it was only when he returned that night to see Hisana sleeping that fear crept into him.

She was vulnerable, as were the kids in the Seireitei. Even though he wrote a letter warning them, chances are they could still be subverted or taken hostage. What if Aizen attacked Hisana while Ichigo was away? Or the kids, while they were in the Academy and too far from his reach? What then?

He couldn't let Aizen win. Not again. But, if it came down to it, would he be able to sacrifice Hisana or the kids for the sake of everyone else?

No, he wouldn't. It had always been his greatest strength and fatal flaw, the unwillingness to sacrifice anyone he cared about for the sake of strategy or victory. While it made him powerful, it also made him reliant on them. Their loss would surely break him, shattering his resolve and leaving him nothing more than a hollowed shell.

"Ichigo," Tetsu called. "You okay?"

"Yeah, why?" He pointed down to the lumber they were cutting and Ichigo realized he had done so poorly. The cut was crooked, meaning that it was likely to be shortened. "Oh. Sorry."

"You look like you've been through Hell, man," he said. "Anything you want to talk about?"

"Nothing really." His concern about Aizen wasn't something he could really talk to others about. Damn time-travel. But there was something else they could discuss. "On second thought, let me ask you a question."

Tetsu set the saw down. "Sure, what is it?"

"Let's say you had the power to do anything you wanted—power that surpassed even a god." Ichigo proposed. "What would you do with it?"

Tetsu's face scrunched up in thought. Understandable, given that it had been days since the Old Man posed the question of what he would do with his power. Only Tetsu didn't take more than five seconds before he answered with a smile. "I'd fix every building in the district until it looked brand new."

"…seriously?" The answer was so simple that it momentarily left Ichigo stumped. "If you had the power of a god, you'd use all of it to fix the district's buildings?"

"Well, yeah." The carpenter looked out in the distance. Inuzuri was too far from where they were to see at the moment, having taken a cart ride, but Ichigo imagined that's where he was looking towards. "The place is basically broken in both body and spirit—abandoned and left on the outskirts of society."

"So what good is fixing the buildings up?" Ichigo asked. "The main problem is in the atmosphere itself. There's no reason for most people to do more than survive and pass the time, so putting up fresh boards and paint won't do the trick."

"True," he admitted. "But it's the first step. By fixing the buildings, I'll give the people that live there some hope on a surface level. Make them want to improve their circumstances and themselves to match their surroundings. Fix what's outside before moving on to what's inside."

Ichigo understood how he could perceive it. You couldn't force people to change. They had to want to change. The best you could do was provide a means for them to do so and then hope for the best.

"It's a fool's dream, I know," Tetsu continued. "A dream without the means of making it into a reality will always be just that—just a dream. In truth, I don't have a foundation to stand on besides being a decent carpenter. That wouldn't be nearly enough to make it a reality, not without enough resources or capital or manpower."

"Wow, you've really given this a lot of thought, haven't you?"

He shrugged. "A bit, but I'm as much a realist as I am a dreamer. Even if I did fix all the buildings, I don't think they would last long before being ruined again. And, if by some miracle, everyone decided to clean themselves up, what about the rest of the districts? How long would it be before another band of thugs rolled in and took it all away from them because they can't defend themselves? There's no one here to uphold the law."

In the end, that was the crux of it. No matter how much change was wanted, it couldn't be done because there was no way to enforce it. No one had that kind of strength… except him.

Tetsu's goal wasn't his own, but it was an admirable one. It wasn't something that could be done within a regular lifespan, but he was likely to live for thousands of years. Once Aizen, who had been responsible for most of the incidents that occurred within the timeframe he existed in, was gone there was nothing really hindering him from helping to carry it out.

The more he thought about it, the more he found the idea appealing. He could train others like he did Rukia and Renji. They could create a peacekeeping force, offering protection for workers as they improved the district, and eventually expand….

But that would likely bring him into conflict with the other Soul Reapers. They were tasked with dealing with Hollows to maintain the balance of souls, but they frowned upon opposing factions when it came to control of the Soul Society. The memories of the Quincies showed him the end result of how far they would go, and more than once he found himself opposed to their rulings in lieu of his own decisions.

Not to mention that it would be inevitable that whatever system he put into place would become corrupt. The larger an organization became, the harder it was to manage. The only one he could trust fully was himself in that regard.

Ichigo sighed. As appealing as the ideal was, it got more complicated the more he thought about it. He'd likely make another mistake in the woodcutting if he didn't focus, so he put it at the back of his mind for the time being. The future could be planned for later; right now he had to focus on the present problems.

 **[-o0o-]**

Aizen sat within his private lab, reviewing his notes. It was a little place squirreled out of the way in the Seireitei and not easily found. It was also where he stored his experiments and, most importantly, his incomplete Hougyoku.

It was a simple device in theory—a wish granting machine that used the power of souls to manifest desires. Utilizing one's latent power and determination, it could readily make available abilities and potentials that one could never achieve in their lifetime. With it, he could easily sit upon the throne of the Heavens and replace the slumbering god who wasted away the power of creation to be a mere anchor.

Aizen had loathed that he was set upon by limitation. Not because of a lack of effort, drive, and talent. No, he was limited by his very physiology—hindered by his very nature. It was a cruel trick by the hands of fate for one as ambitious as he was, but not an insurmountable one.

The only problem was that the Hougyoku lacked the necessary fuel to do anything meaningful for him, who had already reached his peak as a Soul Reaper. He had presented pieces of souls from numerous beings into it, but so far none of them has had any real effect. He needed something special to fuel it before it could elevate him to the rank of a god.

On that note, he was fairly sure that Tousen was dead. The prolonged absence all but ensured it. That would set him back a bit, but ultimately he would be able to press forward without him.

Really, the main reason he enlisted his help was because he was blind and loyal. The alternative would have been to kill him in order to avoid any complications to his plans. While he had been a valuable asset, he wasn't irreplaceable.

The loss of the Hollows was more substantial. They were instrumental in his plans towards Hollowfication. Those Hollows had been chosen because their natural abilities were suited for what he needed and, while he could replace them in time, it would set him back further than he liked.

He sighed heavily, bringing his hands up to his eyes while his glasses rested on his forehead. All they had to do was kidnap a potential Soul Reaper that somehow managed to eliminate his custom-modified Hollow and a single woman. It was such a simple plan, so where did it go wrong?

Even if the Soul Reaper was Captain-class—none of whom have been unaccounted for in the last three-hundred years, which brings to mind other complications—there shouldn't have been any difficulty in retrieving the pair. There had to be some clear-cut explanation beyond simple strength. Was there something he wasn't accounting for?

The only way to know for certain would be to handle the issue himself. The best opportunity for that would be when the students let out for the week-long break in a month. If he guessed right, those two from that district would be heading directly there and he could stealthily follow them.

It would be a simple matter to have one of his other collaborators mimic him and take his place while under the effects of his zanpakuto. Even his Captain hadn't seen through it, though he suspected the man had some suspicions about him. Not that it mattered. He'd be dealt with soon enough as well.

 **[-o0o-]**

Late that night, Hisana woke up at feeling her lover slipping out from the futon they shared. She had idly suspected he had been doing the same thing for the last few nights, but it was only tonight that she was lucid enough to confirm it. She sat up and asked, "Ichigo, where are you going?"

"Training," he said, reaching for his swords. "I can't really get any sleep right now, so I figured I would work myself to exhaustion and then come back and take a hot bath. That sounds like it would do the trick."

It was a lie, or at least part of it was. She could see the shadow of doubt looming over his face. She got to her feet and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her head against his broad back. "We're in danger, aren't we?"

"What makes you think that?" he asked, feigning ignorance.

"Women's intuition," she said. "You've been off lately. Money isn't the problem, and I doubt work is the cause of all these nights you've gone without sleep. The only alternative is that you're concerned over someone else's well being. Am I wrong?"

"…No," he admitted, after a pause. "To be honest, I'm afraid there may be a battle coming up and I don't want to endanger you. I have to make sure that I'm ready for it, when it does come."

"Are you afraid you'll die?" she asked.

Ichigo shook his head. "I'm resigned to risking my life for this cause. It's…."

"That you'll lose us in the process," Hisana finished for him. "You're afraid we'll burden you with concern the entire time."

"I don't consider any of you a burden." He turned around to face her, letting his swords fall to the ground to embrace her. "You made this life worth living after I'd lost everything else. Losing all of you… losing family for a second time…"

Hisana felt his body tremble in fear for the first time as he held her tighter. It was such a bittersweet sensation, seeing him so vulnerable out of concern for her and the kids' safety. But it endeared her to him all the same.

She rose up on her toes and delivered a kiss that carried her affection for him. The shaking stopped as he returned the kiss in the glow of the lantern. She pulled back with a near-silent gasp and smiled at him.

"Ichigo, come back to bed with me," she said. "You need the rest, and training won't ease that fear. You'll only wear yourself out when you need to be at your strongest."

He consented with a silent nod of the head and then returned to the futon they shared, where she cradled him in her arms until he drifted off to a peaceful slumber.


	18. Chapter 18

**Another chapter is here!**

 **PredatorPuck: Thank you.**

 **Lightningblade49: Yeah.**

 **Shigure Toshiro: Thank you.**

 **iamAdisco: Perhaps.**

 **sabery: Yes it is.**

 **animelove22: Read and see.**

 **Neapolittan: Read and see.**

 **WhiteEagle0: Thank you.**

 **BlueShard20: Fight is coming.**

 **the unsung antihero: Read this chapter and see.**

 **Guest: Thank you.**

 **Greyjedi449t: Thank you.**

 **batosaix: Who knows.**

 **donovan123456789: Thank you.**

 **killermouze: I will.**

 **LongPastMidnight: Thank you.**

 **Guest: Of course.**

 **Enjoy!**

A haggard breath left Ichigo's mouth as he lingered in the air, draped in white as it flowed around him like cloth. The buildings lost their form, the inner world's structures turning to pale grains like salt that steadily streamed towards him and added to his power. The more he grasped, the more he reached out, the more it came to him.

Yet there was a jerk, pull of power battering at his mind and will as it tore the strands from his control. He silently cursed as he stared at the Old Man floating opposite of him, clad in the Quincy: Vollständig. The wings and halo were flaring erratically as they took dominance of the spirit particles around them within the world.

"Remember why you fight, Ichigo!" he said, forming his sword in his hand. "Think back to all the times before you were outmatched. Remember the feeling, remember the resolve, and remember the purpose of your fights. Let them harden your will, and then use that will to claim dominance!"

He did. Between the war of wills and domination, he thought back to all the times he had overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. Whether it was when he fought against Byakuya with his newly earned Bankai, standing up to the Arrancars for the first time when they went after his friends, rushing into Hueco Mundo and facing off against Ulquiorra to save a kidnapped ally, or obtaining his true Bankai to finally smite the Aizen of his timeline. Every single time had been in the defense of another, to save his friends and family.

Likewise, their loss pained him worse than any wound he had sustained to this point, even years after the fact. All that effort, all that struggling, all of it meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. Orihime, Chad, Uryuu, Tatsuki, Keigo, Mizuiro, his father, his sisters, his allies—all of them died because he had been too weak to remain standing, too slow to recover, and their memories only served to weaken his resolve, rather than strengthen it.

But there were new memories he could draw from, and those came to the forefront of his mind. Both Rukia and Renji were different from how he had known them in his previous life, changed by his efforts. Whether it was good or bad he wasn't certain, but he hoped that it was the former.

Tetsu was another. He was a good friend, someone that Ichigo trusted to a greater extent that anyone else outside the family he had built. He had ambition behind that laidback and unhurried nature, acknowledging the ugliness around him but not willing to slink into it. The world could use more people like him in it.

And then there was Hisana. He never thought that stopping her from making that mistake all those years ago would come out the way it did. Though she had her sister's face, she was something new in his life entirely. She was unblemished by his past failures, untouched by the contrast of past and present.

She was a loving woman, passionate and forgiving. There were times she was strict, but she had to be and acknowledged it. The insight she had into others, himself included, was one of the many things that made her a keystone in his life, and Ichigo wondered if his father felt the same way he felt when he met his mother.

Those four were the people he was closest to in this life. They were small in number, but in his darkest moments they gave him something to look forward to. If it hadn't been for them, he didn't know the path he would have ended up taking up to this point. They gave him strength now, and he would not fail them.

Not now. Not ever.

That reflection brought with it a sort of clarity to his thoughts, an understanding that he didn't quite grasp before. It clicked in his mind as he steeled his will and yelled at the top of his lungs. It was a wordless yell, primal and capable of rattling his bones as they carried the weight of his resolve. It reinforced his will further, making the pain bearable as his mind threatened to break from the strain of uprooting the natural order and against the Old Man's hold on the world surrounding him.

His kimono was slowly overlapped in a second layer that thickened, like flowing silver rather than plain white. The halo that slowly formed above his head took the form of a pentagon rather than a ring or star, the shape of his badge that had been lost. The Vollständig took shape, much to his opponent's pleasure.

"Good!" The Old Man's wings flapped vigorously in place as they strained to maintain their form in lieu of Ichigo's own forming. This was what he was waiting for, and it brought a smile to his face. He descended towards Ichigo, his hair billowing as he brandished his broadsword. "Now come! Surpass the shadow of The Almighty!"

The broadsword smashed into Zangetsu and shattered like glass against the large sword. The shards broke down further, adding to the collective under his control. They reformed to become shorter blades, one of many in a circular ring that rotated behind him rather than the standard set of wings. The Old Man, the shadow of Yhwach, retreated back until he escaped the growing range of Ichigo's dominance and repurposed the remaining spirit particles under his command into clones.

The clones of himself were little more than husks, faint shadows of a shadow. They were just shells, wielding bows to fire spirit arrows from afar. The hail of fire rained down, covering every conceivable angle to lay waste to him with numbers.

The halo stretched downwards, encasing Ichigo in a column that expanded and swelled to form a barrier. The shots that touched it were subsumed into his collective, adding to that under his control. A flex of thought and will made the ring of blades behind his back revolve parallel, spinning faster and faster, until they abruptly rocketed out with a thunderous crash.

The blades streaked through the air, curving as they actively sought out the clones. Some were quicker than others and tried to evade. It was an effort in futility. They were penetrated, punched through and shattered. They dispersed into salt-like grains that trailed after the blades, creating tails that marked their flight path as the blades sought the next one and then another after that.

Ichigo's mind was on fire, every stray thought causing him pain as the last of the clones was destroyed and the blades returned. The Vollständig was exhausting to maintain, flickering in and out as he waited for the next attack by the Old Man. Yet the attack never came.

The Old Man merely let his own Vollständig fall apart, fading away as he smiled earnestly. "Well done, Ichigo. You're finally achieved it."

Ichigo's completely vanished with a heavy sigh as the world began to rebuild itself. "I couldn't hold it for long."

"Victory can be determined in a single moment, in a single stroke," he assured him. "We'll have time to refine your ability to utilize it, but after that I will have no more left to teach you."

 **[-o0o-]**

Rukia sat down against a bamboo tree in a forest of them, with a snack in her hands. It was nestled between the wards in the 43rd South District, quiet and out of the way, and the forest itself was covered with thin marquise leaves that fell to the ground as the wind softly blew. There no one would disturb them as they rested.

They had covered a lot of ground in two days, not being distracted as they were before. More than that, they were both eager to get home and show-off what they learned. They were close enough now that they wouldn't need another break once they rested up for a few hours. Renji would then pick a fight with Ichi-nii that he most certainly wouldn't win and visit the graves of his friends, while she would show her sister that she could use kido and then tell her about all the things she'd seen and done.

She looked over her shoulder to see Renji in Jinzen once more, his nameless sword in his lap. This time he said that he could hear something, meaning he would likely unlock his sword's power soon. She doubted it would be that simple, but he had been working non-stop to do it and once he dedicated himself to something he would push until he reached it.

Sometimes she wondered if she was moving too slow compared to him. He was shunning everything beyond learning and training. While that was understandable, and explained why he was improving at such a fast rate, he was also isolating himself from others. Rukia had at least made an effort to make friends and was successful for the most part, but he was always by himself.

Not that Rukia herself was being lazy when it came to practice. She was skilled in Kido, and she grasped the subject matter quickly enough to be near the top in the subject. She was even good enough to use a few without needing a chant. Granted, it was mostly the basic ones and there was still a lot of work to do before she could utilize the high-level ones like that, but the potential was there and others recognized it.

The silent ambience of the forest was ruined when Renji suddenly started hacking up blood with violent coughs. The crimson covered the green grass as he doubled over, his sword falling to his side and… _smoldering_ as his forehead planted itself to the ground and he clenched his stomach. He was hurt, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why it happened.

Rukia was by his side in a Flash Step, her hands wreathed in the pale-green light of healing kido. She knew just enough to be qualified for First Aid and hoped that would be enough as she turned him around. The moment she pulled his kosode open she saw that his stomach was horribly bruised, as though a sledgehammer had struck it. Her fingers pressed against the flesh and the energy sank in to try and do its work.

"I warned you!" Rukia couldn't help but say as she continued to heal him. It wasn't fatal, but it would make moving hard for him until it healed completely. That would take days, if not weeks, unless someone more skilled than her healed him. "I warned you wouldn't be able to withstand the feedback if it attacked you. You weren't supposed to go looking for your zanpakuto's spirit, it was supposed to come looking for you!"

Renji, for his part, simply _laughed_. He was laughing, even as blood continued to slip from the corners of his mouth. She couldn't help but wonder if he was bashed in the head too and moved to check when he murmured something under his breath.

"I didn't hear you," she said, leaning closer. "Say it again."

He wheezed as turned his head towards his sword, which now had a rectangular bronze hand-guard and red handle. _"Zabi…maru…."_

 **[-o0o-]**

Aizen followed the two as they continued their journey to their home district at a cautious pace, always threading on the outskirts of what he believed to be their maximum sensory range while concealed by kido. He found his earlier assumptions about the pair being trained completely vindicated at the sight of Abarai awakening his zanpakuto in what should have been an unprecedented amount of time. Albeit a suicidal means of doing so.

He could only conjecture, but someone had taught him Jizen—how it worked and how to use it—before he had the nameless blade. It had been a little over a month since they were issued the blade, but if he could access his inner world before that point then it would be a simple matter to imprint that part of his soul to become the basis of his zanpakuto. It would allow him to bypass the time required for it to naturally happen, at the expense of safety.

The wound he sustained was blunt damage, indicating a conflict of some kind. Most likely by him demanding its power, yet the blade did change. If that was the case, he had to assume that the Shikai would be underdeveloped and the shift in appearance was merely a concession for his efforts.

Either way, they were only a short distance away from the Inuzuri district now. He remembered his objective was both the Soul Reaper and the woman accompanying him. It would be best to assume his opponent was Captain-rank, somehow, but he was confident he could deal with him. All it took was one look at his Shikai and it was over, he could disable his Soul Sleep and Soul Chain, rendering him helpless.

He also had some Hollows waiting, ready to open a Garganta in order to provide a distraction if needed. At the very least it would help deal with any witnesses, and serve as a clean method for getting rid of any evidence considering there would likely be an inquiry into the disappearance of the two students he was trailing after the death of Tousen. The Hollows would also be placated with feeding to their content, ensuring their loyalty without him needing to thin out a couple dozen of them in a show of strength _again_.

He stiffened in his motions a bit when he felt a slight heat coming from the Hougyoku tucked safely away in his pocket. When it he pulled it out he saw that it had a small shine to it that it normally lacked, radiating warmth. That was… unexpected. It was a minor change, but that was more than he got out of it normally.

It made his heart flutter a bit, actually. His hunch was correct. There was something here capable of stirring it awake, something capable of breaking down the borders between Soul Reaper and Hollow. There was something here that would allow him to supplant the God of this world, after all the years of searching….

Aizen's attention snapped forward when he sensed a faint, repressed power further ahead. It was closing in fast as well. The fact that the two in front of him came to a stop as it entered their sensing range, combined with how relaxed they were, gave a good indication that they recognized the person closing in. It must've been the mystery Soul Reaper.

The orange-haired individual appeared with a blindfold over his eyes, dressed in a black kimono with white stripes on it. He also had two zanpakuto, which was very interesting. There were only two other cases of someone possessing two blades at once, and they were exceptional.

Unfortunately, Aizen didn't have the time to think further on the subject when he pointedly ignored the other two and appeared in front of him with a Flash Step. The larger sword was raised and swung in a single motion, leaving Aizen to draw his own blade as his veil was cut apart. He managed to block and immediately pointed his off-hand to the Soul Reaper's chest to let loose a non-verbal _Byakurai._

His opponent was fast in both speed and reflex. He twisted his body to avoid the shot and then backed away to avoid being imprisoned as six petals of yellow light flew in to imprison him, leaving them both standing at the ready. It seemed he was experienced in combat against other Soul Reapers as well.

"Ichi-nii?" he heard from the girl as confusion and surprise dawned and bounced back and forth on the two students faces. It was a logical thing. "What's—"

"He's responsible for the Hollow that attacked years ago!" the Soul Reaper yelled. "He sent another set and a Seated Officer to kidnap Hisana and me a month ago as well! He's the enemy!"

Their expressions shifted, with the girl looking horrified and the young man angry. Not just blanket anger, but a sort of righteous and vengeful anger that he'd noticed Tousen had behind that impassive mask he wore. The hiss of his newly-awakened sword leaving its sheath was audible to everyone there.

The Soul Reaper immediately pointed and fired a highly-concentrated blast of spiritual power from his shorter blade. Aizen dodged and held his blade up, ready to release it. Then he ducked as two copies of the Soul Reaper appeared on his left and right, both aiming to cut him apart.

"Get back home!" the main body yelled, still on the ground. "There's nothing you can do here! He can fight on-par with a Captain and his zanpakuto hypnotizes you if you watch its Shikai release! You'll end up killing each other by accident!"

 _How much did Tousen tell him before he died?_ Aizen couldn't help but wonder. That meant using Kyouka Suigetsu was a non-option, considering they were keeping their eyes down. Fine then, he'd simply have to get serious.

As the two clones' blades came around to him again, he held both his hands out and used _Seki_. The balls of energy not only repelled the attack, but proved to be enough to shatter them. He idly wondered if they were fragile things by nature, or were they hastily made since they didn't seem like an ability of his zanpakuto either.

Despite being warned, the pair hadn't retreated yet. The young man obviously bore some kind of grudge against him now, and charged in recklessly. Foolish, but it would serve as a weakness he could exploit since the man obviously cared about them.

He snapped off a _Sho_ since it was fast and effective. The impact was enough to double him over, eyes rolling into the back of his head as he passed out from being hit where he'd been injured previously. The girl tried to run over to him, but Aizen cast a non-verbal _Sai_ spell to leave her defenseless, arms behind her back and on her knees.

The Soul Reaper was angry, swinging his sword madly to try and drive him away. Aizen blocked with the _El Escudo_ spell, allowing for a pale-green barrier to spring up and block it. He followed with a _Kurohitsugi_ , enveloping him in the black coffin.

It wouldn't last, but it bought him a second. That second was more than long enough to Flash Step over to the girl and put his sword to her throat, aiming his other hand at the back of Abarai's head while ready to discharge a spell to blow it off. With both of them at his mercy, the Soul Reaper stood still after breaking apart the coffin with a slash.

The orange-haired Soul Reaper gritted his teeth. He was fast, but not fast enough to stop him from killing the pair. And he knew that.

Aizen had all the power, and it brought a smile to his face as he opened a dialogue. "Now then. Let's talk."


	19. Chapter 19

**Another chapter is here!**

 **PredatorPuck: Damn Aizen indeed.**

 **Call0013: lol**

 **BlueShard20: Read and see.**

 **Gulliman: Who knows.**

 **Neapolittan: Hahaha.**

 **MugetsuIchigo: Danger is coming.**

 **Aeonir: Ouch. That is harsh.**

 **Lightningblade49: true, true.**

 **StratoGott: Hmm.**

 **ahsanrox: lol**

 **Shigure Toshiro: Thank you.**

 **sabery: Perhaps.**

 **The Violent Tomboy: Thanks.**

 **Lina esrevnI: Of course.**

 **Lord Wolfe: Heh.**

 **Tonlor: Thank you.**

 **Black Bankai: Of course.**

 **sagar hussain: Yeah.**

 **Enjoy!**

"Drop your swords and remove that blindfold," Aizen demanded. "I have a good feel for your speed now, and I can assure you that I'll kill them both before you can reach or attack."

Ichigo gritted his teeth behind his closed lips. He was afraid something like this would happen. That was why he rushed out when he sensed them coming, leaving Hisana at his old shed and wrapped in his cloak to shroud her just in case.

Logically speaking, their deaths would be an acceptable loss. Two more deaths for the lives of everyone else that died by his hands through experimentation and malevolence. But, if he could have done that, then he wouldn't have waited so long in the first place.

Aizen continued speaking. "If these two meant nothing to you, then you would have already attacked." He pressed the blade against Rukia's throat just hard enough to draw a trickle of blood, causing her to whimper loud enough for him to hear. "I only need one hostage alive, so I won't warn you a second time before I execute one of them."

Ichigo released his grip on his swords and let them tumble to the ground, reaching up and pulling off the blindfold. He wasn't going to lose family a second time. "What next?"

"Tell me everything you know about me," the Lieutenant said. "What do you know of me and my plans?"

He was fishing for information, Ichigo realized. The thought of lying immediately came to mind, but he didn't want to risk being found out and the kids killed. In that case, perhaps if he gave him _too much_ information it would unnerve him. All he needed was an opening, and he could save them both.

"You plan on using Hollowfication as a means of turning Soul Reapers into a state that's half-Hollow, allowing them to break the boundaries on their power. Likewise, you plan on doing the reverse on Hollows of Arrancar and Vasto Lorde-class, using the Hougyoku. The promise of power would be enough to build an army willing to follow you in your plans."

"I'm impressed that you managed to get Tousen to tell you all of that—"

"But that's a lie you told him to hide the truth," Ichigo continued, cutting him off. "The Hougyoku's real power is to manifest desires as long as the potential is there. You've reached your limitations as a Soul Reaper, but you believe that you can become something greater and that's the means of doing so. With it, you intended to usurp the throne of the Soul King after forging a King's Key to access his palace."

The words had a notable effect, leaving the man tense with his brow creasing at the breadth of his knowledge. Those secrets should have remained with him. No one should know. "And how do you know all of this?"

"Because I was sent back by the Royal Guard using a forbidden time kido to stop you," he admitted. It was a gamble, telling him all of this. But Aizen had let his guard down before, when he thought he had accomplished his goal.

Urahara used that to trick him into exploding from the inside out, only it didn't take because of the completed Hougyoku. Knowing that he won, Ichigo was hedging his bets he would careless enough to drop his guard for just a second. That was all he needed.

"You succeeded in your goal 150 years in the future, becoming the captain of the 5th Division after you Hollowfied Shinji Hirako," he continued. "You orchestrated the expulsion of Kisuke Urahara to claim the Hougyoku that he made, and melded it with your own to empower it. Then you took over Hueco Mundo, and launched an invasion on the Soul Society as a distraction to forge the King's Key. Even the Royal Guard couldn't do anything to stop the flow of Hollows and the disruption the balance of souls, so that left only one way. "

"Of course." Aizen smiled at that. "You can't send someone who already exists in the past back, but you can send someone who hasn't been born. That's why you have no records. More than that, you've been touched by the completed version, its influence melded with you. That's why mine's reacting to you, isn't? So then—"

There were a flash of steel as Renji made his move then, creating the distraction Ichigo needed. He formed the wrist-mounted crossbow and fired.

 **[-o0o-]**

Renji woke to find himself in his inner world once more, a world of white bamboo and red skies. As he wearily lifted his head, he noticed he wasn't alone. Facing him was the Nue, a baboon with a snake for a tail, his zanpakuto spirit.

The ivory-fur coated baboon, with purple markings on its shoulder, was standing on all four in front of him while the serpent's head loitered above, flicking its tongue. Both were capable of independent thought, as he learned the last time he had reached this point intentionally. Yet they both stared him down with two pairs of displeased, yellow eyes.

 **"You demanded our power,"** the baboon-half begin. **"Despite our insisting that you were not ready to hear our name, you refused to leave until you obtained it. Even when we showed you how outmatched you were in a single blow, you still stood up. Thus we rewarded your dedication with our name, a gesture of goodwill to see if that knowledge alone would aid in proving your worth."**

 _"Yet here you are, face down on the ground when the man who took everything from you is literally only a swing away."_ The snake tilted its head, almost condescendingly. _"Not even a scratch before you went down. Are you that pathetic?"_

"Hell no!" Renji slammed his fist against the ground. "I can't let it slide. I'm going to fight."

 **"Then wake up,"** the baboon-half said.

Renji's awareness jumped back to the real world as his eyes slowly opened to a half-lidded state and he overheard the discussion. Ichigo was from the future, Aizen wanted to become God, all of it sounded ludicrous to be honest. But he recalled that Ichigo had known his name when he had just met him.

He brushed it off, deeming it unimportant at the moment. What was important was that Aizen was enraptured by his words, the promise of victory standing in front of him. It was his chance.

Renji tightened his grasp on Zabimaru slowly to avoid attention, and then leapt up slashing with it. Aizen blocked it with his bare hands, glancing down at him like he was little more than an ant. Then he was gone as three white bolts lanced through where his torso had been and Ichigo took his place.

Their mentor grabbed them both and threw them high and far into the air without a word, sending them over the tree line and canopy towards the district. Renji righted himself, feet grasping hold of the spirit particles in the air to slow down, and caught Rukia just as she broke free of the invisible bindings inflicted upon her. Then they watched as Aizen ran his sword through Ichigo's abdomen while a Garganta opened up ahead.

"Shit!" Renji swore as the Hollows poured out in a stream. All of them looked minor, less than the monkey one that had killed his friends, but they were heading into the district and none of them could defend themselves. He glared at Aizen, running his mouth off as the sword remained in Ichigo's gut, and tensed to move.

Rukia grabbed his sleeve to stop him. "Leave him."

"But—" He twisted his head around to see that her lavender eyes were wet with tears, streaming down her cheeks.

"We'll only get in the way again if we try to help him. We have to protect the district instead."

It was bitter, but it was true. They had to leave it to him or else they would end up becoming chains holding him down. But, at the very least, they could reduce the causalities.

"Let's go then."

 **[-o0o-]**

Aizen had a rather placid smile, considering his sword was plunged within the stomach of the Soul Reaper professing to be from the future. The knowledge he casually let slip, such as the Royal Guard and King's Key gave it some merit, but the fact that he knew about the Hougyoku's true worth was proof enough. He had to be taken alive, until Aizen could squeeze every last drop of knowledge out of him, and the Hollows would deal with any witnesses.

He cast a silent _Rikujoukouro_ to be safe, preventing him moving as the six petals closed in and anchored him into place.

"…ot yo…" whispered the Soul Reaper.

"Did you have something you wanted to say?" he asked. "If it's to spare those children, I have no need—"

The six petals of light shattered as the arteries beneath his skin became visible with power that forced out the invasive and paralysis-inducing technique. The Soul Reaper raised his empty hand into the air and balled it into a fist, like it was grasping a sword. Then, suddenly, there was a flash as a broadsword made of spirit particles formed.

Seeing this Aizen tried to pull his sword out. It wouldn't budge, being held inside by the calloused left hand of his opponent who grabbed his own. Then Aizen only knew pain as the sword opened him up from shoulder to hip.

"Got you," the Soul Reaper repeated. Careless—he dropped his guard in his eagerness, assuming that victory was already in the grasp of his hand.

He tried to get away with a Flash Step, but the blinding pain from the wound left him staggering back after he broke the grip and sacrificed his sword to get away. He watched as the Soul Reaper pulled out his sword with a grunt, held both ends, and brought the flat end over his knee to snap the blade at the connecting point between them. The blade could be repaired, but not anytime soon. He couldn't use it to hypnotize him, and he'd likely bleed out before he could escape.

"Ha…haah…hahahaha…" The laugh came out on its own accord at the cruel joke. Learning of his glorious plans coming to fruition in the future, only to die without a sense of accomplishment for himself…. No, he couldn't let it end like this. He reached for the Hougyoku that burned in his pocket and crushed the glass case with his hands, bits of both the Soul Reaper's and his own blood mixing with it.

Then he shoved it into the opened wound as the Soul Reaper looked on with horror in his eyes and felt the change overcoming him, matching him to fulfill his utmost desire. His form was lost, flesh bubbling over and swelling, consuming everything near him, spiraling in on itself and becoming bloated as he rose higher in the air.

He felt… _powerful_. Unstoppable. He had transcended his limits and couldn't rein in the gurgling laughter that bubbled in his throat. His distorted words shook the air as he bellowed loudly, **"I aM A gggGGGggoooOODDD!"**

 **[-o0o-]**

Rukia wove a kido net, her spiritual power condensed and then released as a sticky orange adhesive webbing to constrict and bind the Hollows. It only caught four, but it held them long enough for her to snap off another kido spell. It was basic and low-level, but the main point was that it was a fire-generating Kido and that web turned into a strong blaze that killed the Hollows. It didn't purify the souls that they once were, but at least it left their bodies to break down and become part of the environment.

She let out a deep and heavy sigh. It had been the fifth bunch that she'd killed so far, and she was starting to feel it. The entire district was enormous, and the Hollows were going around on a grand scale. She could hear the screams, the begging, and the bellows of the Hollows as they gorged themselves.

Renji was in the distance, having unleashed his blade for the first time. It was a strange blade, steadily growing wider from the base with six fang-like protrusions that divided them into sections. He was just swinging it around, using the weight and power of the blows to kill Hollows, but she had a feeling there was something more to it and he just hadn't discovered it because he forced the development too soon.

They were doing well so far, but there were too many for the two of them alone to deal with. The only reason they weren't being swarmed was because they weren't as easy prey and the gluttonous things weren't all that eager to fight for their meals when there were plenty of easier targets around. But that would change soon enough, and then….

Then she saw it and stood still. Everyone did, even the Hollows, as it rose up high into the sky, reaching for the sun with pale white hands that numbered dozens, black veins running up and down as it pulsed. A hollow's mask was situated at its base, which was still over the tree line, with the lower-half missing to show a human jaw adorned with a twisted smile.

Some of the hands spread themselves like a slowly blossoming flower, palms facing out, and crimson light gathered in each one until it eclipsed the natural light of the sky. The last thing Rukia felt as the light swelled was Renji calling her and jerking her to the side as the crimson lances speared out and rained death all around….

 **[-o0o-]**

Ichigo looked on in horror from the ground as _Cero_ were fired without restriction from the abomination that had once been Aizen. The Hougyoku had granted his twisted wish for power by taking in aspects of himself, likely due to the connection he mentioned and the blood that mixed with his. Now all that was left was his obsession for power, as ugly on the outside as it was great.

He moved with a Flash Step as a pair of hands reached down and tried to crush him flat, only to see that the ground beneath where they hit was slowly eroding and breaking apart. It seemed that it had also gained some sort of instinctive use of his Quincy power, adding to its mass everything that it touched. How long would it take before the gluttonous creature gorged itself on the very world if he didn't stop it here?

Ichigo grabbed his swords, wincing as the wound still ached. He staunched the bleeding with Blut Vene, abandoning the offensive form of his power, but the pain would be a hindrance. He avoided another stream of hands trying to grasp him and then used a Flash Step to get right in its face. **"GETSUGA JUUJISHOU!"**

Both blades unleashed a raging torrent of pale blue light, a cross that seemed to eclipse its upper body and obliterated it. He watched on as the light faded to reveal the smoldering and charred husk of the ivory-colored mass, panting as his swords felt heavy in his hands. It seemed dead enough.

Ichigo looked to district behind him to see that it was smoking, the _Cero_ strikes doing a number to the surroundings. Hollows that survived the attack were still scavenging. Extending his senses, he located Rukia and Renji, both injured but alive. He'd need to deal with the Hollows and get to them.

The sound of writhing flesh caught Ichigo's ears, a sign of regeneration taking place, and turned back towards what had once been Aizen. It was regenerating, knitting itself back together from drinking in the world around it. He shifted to the spirit crossbow again and let loose a flurry of Hollow-obliterating arrows, but the damage they did was so easily mended by the abomination that it was useless.

The forest of bony-long arms reformed and once more tried blindly to snatch him from the air. Ichigo ascended higher, a frown on his face as more of the terrain around it was being broken down and subsumed. The fingers pointed towards him and then fired a series of _Cero_ without restraint into the air, forcing him to keep moving.

He had to stop it, but his normal methods weren't going to work. There was no choice. He had to use his trump card.

He ascended higher and higher. He was told that the release radius would likely wipe out the district, but if he got high enough then it would only take what was naturally in the air. So he climbed, ignoring the shots that fired blindly at an ever-shrinking target. Only when he was so high up that even Aizen's abomination seemed like a speck of white on the land below did he embrace his power and will the change to happen….

 **[-o0o-]**

That day, the survivors would recall the terror they felt as Hollows devoured them en masse and rays of scarlet mercilessly struck down anything standing in their wake. Hopelessness and utter despair in the face of an overwhelming force that sought to wipe them out. It was in the face of this hopelessness they would realize how little the lives they lived meant, and they would want change.

They would remember the two Soul Reapers valiantly trying to fend them off, both of whom were natives. They risked their lives to save those who had long since given up on the notion of looking out for one another. These two would be seen as paragons for their efforts, proof that even if the system had given up on them they would look after their own.

This day would serve as the catalyst for the changes that were to come as swords rained from the skies. Every one of them flew with purpose, striking and obliterating every single Hollow in quick succession without harming a single person. They then converged on the thing that had sprayed death in all directions.

The blades tore through it, tearing out chunks faster than it could recover. Any time the world around it was broken into grains as white as salt, the blades would take them and then grow larger as they circled back in. They took it to pieces, ripping the abomination to shreds as it seemed to evaporate while screaming in agony.

Then it was gone, the only thing left to mark it in the minds of everyone being the destruction it had wrought.


	20. Epilogue

**Final Chapter is here!**

 **ARSLOTHES: I know.**

 **AnimeA55Kicker: Quick and shoot to kill. Heh.**

 **PRedatorPuck: It is now.**

 **GoingGone: Your opinion.**

 **Harbinger of Kaos: Read and see.**

 **Lightningblade49: Hmmm.**

 **donovan123456789: heh.**

 **clw123cat: hahaha**

 **BlueShard20: Aizen is gone for good.**

 **AnAddictedReader: Thank you.**

 **the unsung antihero: heh**

 **Tonlor: Of course.**

 **ZeroSquadSephiroth: Thanks.**

 **Shigure Toshiro: Thank you.**

 **Selias: lol**

 **sabery: Read and see.**

 **LongPastMidnight: Indeed**

 **ahsanrox: of course**

 **sagar hussain: Read and see.**

 **michaelsuave: Thanks.**

 **Black Bankai: Thanks.**

 **Akutsu Junya: Read and see.**

 **Mistletainn: Hmmm.**

 **TazalTerminals: Yep.**

 **Enjoy!**

Rukia hummed to herself as she hopped through the trees, climbing a steep slope overlooking the woodlands. She was careful as she did so. If she ruined the kimono she was wearing to the ceremony, her sister would likely have her head—member of the Kido Corps or not.

She reached the top of the cliff to find Renji in front of the graves he had made for his fallen friends, showing off his Shikai. He managed to get it to act like a whip, but he hadn't perfected it yet. It occasionally lashed out in a different way than he intended and ended up hitting him, but he avoided tearing his outfit so far.

"Porky, we're going to be late if you don't hurry up." She stood next to him and crossed her arms. "If we aren't at the shrine by the time the ceremony starts Hisana-nee will have our heads on a platter. What have you been doing for the last four hours anyway?"

"I wish you'd stop calling me that," he said, resignation in his voice. He knew she wouldn't, so it was more out of habit that he said it rather than an expectation. "And I'm trying to manifest Zabimaru."

"You can't force it to manifest," she told him. "Honestly, didn't you learn from when you tried getting Shikai? It nearly killed you."

"It didn't try to kill me, it was testing me." His sword reverted from its transformed state and he sheathed it. "And there's nothing wrong with going for Bankai. I know that I'll achieve it one day, so there's no point in not shooting for it now."

"Except for the fact you _still_ haven't mastered your Shikai," Rukia pointed out. "That's probably why Ichi-nii refused to tell you what it would be like, so you didn't try to force it like this."

Renji grumbled under his breath at that, too low for her to hear. It had been about three years now since that day, when that Soul Reaper came and released the Hollows upon their district before turning into a monster. Ichi-nii defeated them all and told them to get the people to safety while he ran off to the world where Hollows came from, talking about balancing the flow of souls or something like that.

He returned a day later, slightly worse for the wear, and then sat them all down to talk about it. He was from the future and all of that, but more importantly he _knew_ both Rukia and Renji from when they were adults. She wasn't really all that bothered about it, but it seemed…

Well, it was weird from her point of view. He was just a teenager when she had been over one-hundred years old and she gave him her power to make him like her. Somehow she just couldn't see him being younger than her. It conflicted with what she knew and that created a sort of discord that left her not too interested in knowing about that timeline.

Renji, on the other hand, wanted to know as much as he could. But Ichi-nii outright refused to tell them what their future-selves were like. He said that while he liked them, they wouldn't be the same people. To tell them would be the same as brushing away who they were becoming now, and that wouldn't be fair to them.

"Come on," she said. "If we use long distance Flash Steps, we should make it in a few hours."

Then she jumped off the side of the cliff and made for the district not too far away. Most of the buildings had been wrecked during the fighting, with thousands dead from the Hollows and the blasts from the abomination that the Lieutenant had transformed into. But, over the years, things had been getting better.

The attack was a sort of wake-up call, giving a lot of people the chance to start over with their lives. Tetsu, whose mother was one of the victims, had taken it upon himself to start the reconstruction alongside Ichi-nii. They had rallied others into doing the same while they were still in a state of shock. Now, years later, the district was looking renewed and invigorated with people working to rebuild it into something great over the ashes of the old.

That wasn't to say things were perfect. Ichi-nii had to take it upon himself to help keep the crime down, using his clones to enforce it. And they had more than once fended off attacks from bandits to keep the people safe, at least until they could defend themselves. It was a full-time job on his part.

Heading out of the woods and into the district, there was a pop and plume of smoke that preceded the appearance of a young girl in the air above them. She had blonde hair that rose into spikes, with a streak of red matching Renji's own hair color near the roots of her forehead. There was a bright smile on her face as she fell down and clung to Renji, holding tight to him.

"Found you!" she cheerfully claimed. "I was looking all over for you when I heard you were back for your break, but I couldn't find you anywhere!"

"Homura, get off," Renji said, a look of fresh annoyance on his face. "We don't have time for this."

"Mister Abarai is right," said a young man who appeared in front of them in a swirl of dark smoke with a much calmer attitude. "We still have work to do today."

His name was Shizuku, the younger brother of Homura. He was taller than Rukia by a fair bit and pale in complexion, though his clothes were modest at the very least. He had lavender eyes similar to Rukia's, only his right one was covered by his dark hair that fell to his shoulders.

The two siblings had _apparently_ met Ichi-nii during the time Rukia and Renji had been chased by the monkey-Hollow. He had found them again sometime later and explained to them that it was a Hollow possessing a Soul Reaper, but they didn't trust him either at the time.

Then, three years ago, they had come under attack by a swathe of Hollows only to end up being rescued by Renji. The save warmed them up considerably if they had been wary to Soul Reapers before, and they seemed to admire him to a great extent. Not to mention their teleportation ability helped greatly in transporting supplies and moving heavy things during the reconstruction, as well as transporting people to distant locations.

Homura stuck her tongue out at her brother. "I want to stay with Renji today. He's always gone."

"Because I'm a busy man." Renji finally managed to pry her off of him and held her at an arm's length. "Seriously, I don't have time to play with you today, Homura. I have to get to the 33rd Eastern District and it'll take me too long as is to get there before the ceremony. We can talk or play or whatever once I get back, if I have time."

"I can teleport you there!" Homura claimed. "Then we can stay together."

Renji blanched. Teleporting didn't sit well with him for some reason, but Homura didn't seem to take notice as she grabbed his outstretched arm. "Wait a seco—" With a poof of black smoke, they were both gone.

Shizuku sighed as he stared at the spot where they had been. "Mister Tetsu's going to be mad."

Rukia set a hand on his shoulder. "Relax. He'll understand. Today's a special day, after all. Speaking of which, can you give me a lift to the temple?"

"I suppose I can…." He set a hand on her shoulder. "Here we go."

Rukia braced herself. Then they vanished in a dark plume of smoke as well.

 **[-o0o-]**

Ichigo was standing to the side, wearing a black montsuki wedding kimono and hakama as per tradition. Things had reached a new level of normalcy in his life now that he had accomplished what he set out to do. Aizen was defeated and he could dedicate himself fully to starting a family and working with Tetsu to improve the district.

There were repercussions to Aizen's death, from what he learned. The moment the Lieutenant died, his illusion over his subordinate following Shinji around was broken. One interrogation with his co-conspirator had revealed most of what he had told the man and what he had planned.

The investigation to root out others had gone on for some time. However, in the end, Ichigo and the kids' parts in everything were still hidden—and it would stay that way.

Now he was getting married. The ceremony was a little different than what he expected from a traditional wedding, what with the local deity being one of the arms of the Soul King, but most of it was the same—the priest would recite some words while purifying them, they would exchange vows, sip sake, and it was done.

"Nervous?" Isshin asked. The Captain had taken time off his busy schedule to attend of his own accord, not that Ichigo minded. After all, he was the one who had pulled some strings when he learned from Renji that they were planning a wedding. This Isshin may not have been his father, but it was symbolic in a way that he appreciated.

Especially since the Old Man was gone. With nothing left to teach him, the Old Man had melded back into being one with his Soul Reaper and Hollow powers. There was only Zangetsu now.

"A little," he finally said, right when Renji appeared with Homura. She had landed a few feet off the ground and Renji fell first, with her landing on top of him. He bit back a chuckle at the sight. "That's one way to get here on time."

Renji forced himself up and stood at attention before the Captain of his squad. He had ultimately been taken in by Isshin's division upon graduation, though he had not been made a Seated Officer yet because his Shikai was underdeveloped.

It was almost certain he would though, eventually. He just needed to take it slow and let things play out naturally.

"At ease," Isshin told him. "We're not dealing with ranks or anything today."

Rukia and Shizuku appeared not a minute afterwards. The landing was solid, and her behavior was a clear contrast to Renji's. She looked practically giddy as she held onto the tall boy, shuddering.

"It feels like every part of me is _tingly_ ," she murmured before righting herself while Shizuku blushed at her praise. Her eyes spanned the chamber but didn't find who she was looking for. "Where's Hisana-nee?"

"In the dressing chamber," Ichigo said. "It's been hours since she's gone in there, but she won't let us in to talk to her before the wedding since we're all male and that's supposedly bad luck. Could you make sure she's alright?"

Rukia nodded and vanished in a Flash Step as Tetsu, who had been admiring the construction of the temple, approached the pair of siblings. "Have you two finished your assignment?"

Shizuku scratched his cheek and looked away. "Ah, about that. We were planning to, but Miss Kurosaki and Mister Abarai needed transportation so—"

"I wanted to hang out with Renji," Homura unashamedly admitted, cutting off the excuse her brother was weaving. Her brother promptly buried his face in his hands in shame.

Tetsu rubbed the bridge between his eyes. Somehow, Ichigo got the impression he was struggling to deal with her because of her maturity level being closer to a child rather than adult. His limited experience in that field was no doubt where the majority of the friction came from.

Ichigo intervened. "If you asked ahead of time he would have probably cleared your schedule."

"I don't know ahead of time," she pointed out. "He never tells me when he's coming home to visit; I have to learn after the fact."

"I can send you his schedule if you want," Isshin offered, amusement in his eyes. "He could use a little more fun. I have enough serious people in my division as is."

"Really?" she asked eagerly.

Renji shook his head and silently begged him not to. Ichigo knew he couldn't deal with someone who was even more chipper than Rukia. Sure, he was used to her antics. But that took him well over ten years to this point and they were like siblings.

Isshin gave her a thumbs-up anyway. "You got it."

Renji slapped his hand over his eyes, whispering low enough that Ichigo barely heard as he wondered why all the hyperactive girls flocked around him. He had no answers for him.

 **[-o0o-]**

Hisana primped herself in the mirror for the umpteenth time within the changing room, wondering if her appearance was appropriate. The wedding was starting soon and she was having doubts about… well, _almost_ everything.

Her hair had grown down to just past her shoulders over the last few years, with two tails coming down to sit on her collar and a third one that ran right down the center of her face and came to a stop just past her eyes. She couldn't help but wonder if she should have brushed the bang over to the side or cut her hair short to resemble how Rukia's looked. Then again, Ichigo said he liked her hair long like this, but was he just being nice or did he mean it?

And then there was her outfit. Instead of wearing a traditional shiromuku kimono, she had opted for a custom kakeshita. It was a slight shade of blue and fuchsia, patterned with white, pink, and lavender cherry blossoms.

She had chosen the cherry blossoms because they held meaning, symbolism about the transience of life. Her life was comparative to a mayfly next to the kids and Ichigo's, and she would very likely die before any of them did. That was a fact that she had come to accept, and the flowers represented how she wanted to spend every second of her life with him, whether it was another hundred years or a thousand.

"Hisana-nee," Rukia called, popping into the room. "The others want to know if you're re—"

"Your hair is a mess, and are these dust stains over your kimono?" Hisana immediately started fussing over the smallest details of her outfit. It was just a nervous reaction, a way to keep busy with how worried she was about everything going smoothly.

"My hair doesn't matter, I'm not the one getting married here!" Rukia pointed out. "Speaking of which, why aren't you in the main hall? Ichi-nii is worried!"

"I'm just a little nervous," Hisana admitted. "I can't help it."

"I don't see why," Rukia shrugged. "I mean, you got married in Ichi-nii's timeline, didn't you? How is that different than this? Was it because you want to be married into a family like that, with a big fancy house?"

Hisana shook her head. If anything, the only thing she didn't have doubts about was her love for Ichigo himself. He had told her of what her counterpart's fate was, as told by the Rukia of that timeline.

They had never met and she had abandoned her sister in the district, losing track of and searching for her over the course of a hundred years to find her again. Somewhere along the way she would have married a nobleman. But she would have kept searching, until she passed away from an illness running rampant in the district at the time. That nobleman would keep his word to find and protect Rukia a few years later, adopting her from the Academy and looking after her.

"I do wonder about that sometimes," Hisana couldn't help but admit. "Not for myself, but because of how much happier growing up could have been for you if you had the chance to be raised in such a place."

Rukia stared at her for a moment. Then she laughed, doubling over. "Oh, that's rich! Me, living like that? Hahahaha!"

Hisana crossed her arms. "Rukia, be serious."

Rukia stood upright and calmed herself down. "C'mon Hisana-nee, we both know that's not the type of life I wanted. I got you and Ichi-nii. That's worth more to me than being a noble and all… besides, I couldn't stand being all formal and stuff."

"Despite my best efforts," Hisana noted.

"In _spite_ of them," Rukia corrected. "I'm following my own path rather than one that was laid out for me. I don't know how I would have turned out otherwise, but I'm glad for what I do have. Aren't you?"

She pressed her lips thin and nodded.

"Then what are you so nervous about now?" Rukia asked. "You and Ichi-nii chose this, so be happy and go for it."

That… was a ridiculously simple way of putting it, but it did the trick. The butterflies in her stomach vanished. Hisana hugged her sister and braced her tightly. "Thank you, Rukia. For everything."

Rukia returned the hug before pulling away. "Should I tell them to start the ceremony?"

Hisana nodded. "Right, let's do this."

 **[-o0o-]**

The sun was high in the sky as the couple stood together, side-by-side, in front of the shrine priest as he muttered a prayer. The guests of the small wedding looked on in silence, with Rukia surprisingly trying to hold back the tears as it happened. It seemed to hit her at once despite everything they had been up to and how close they had been all this time.

"You okay?" Renji asked softly as the priest purified them with drops of water.

She nodded silently, brushing aside the tears. Her thoughts drifted over several theories as to why she felt this way. Maybe it was because she saw herself getting married in the future, or maybe it was because it was what she was supposed to do at weddings? The answer only came to her when the priest bade them to pronounce their vows.

"My life belongs to you," her sister said. "In sickness and in health, I vow to forever be your loving wife. No matter how long it takes, until my soul departs and is reborn, I'll join my hands in yours as your bride."

"And I'll take responsibility for you," he followed. "To make sure you're happy, to make sure you're safe, to give you everything you want. I will be there to support you and the family that we bring into the world. No matter how long it takes, until my soul departs and is reborn, I'll join my hands in yours as your husband."

Listening to them, Rukia realized that this was genuinely the first happy ending any of them had. She had been there at every point when they struggled and bled for the sake of others, but this was the only event in their lives that hadn't been tainted by something going wrong, like Hollows or madmen. It was a moment solely for them.

Seeing it made her realize just how long a road it had been for them, starting the night her sister and she entered the Soul Society. All the pain and suffering that the two of them specifically went through led them to this point, a moment of pure happiness that they struggled to reach against all odds. How could she _not_ cry?

As the two exchanged drinks, Rukia couldn't help but let the tears flow out silently to not disturb them. Her heart wouldn't be able to handle ruining such a moment. So she watched as the pair sealed their marriage with a kiss, vowing to remember this moment forever.

No matter what was waiting for them in the future.

 **Author Notes: Well that is the end of the story. It is to explore a relationship between Hisana and Ichigo and with Aizen defeated the main conflict stopping it was resolved. Anyway I do hope you join this story. And continue the two other stories they are posted, which they are Naruto and FFVII aka Final Fantasy VII. Have a nice day.**

 **P.S. The picture of Hisana wedding clothes is on the profile.**


End file.
